In Praise of Science (and Common Sense)

As many of you know, I grew up in the 1950s. Some people today like to remember it as the 'good old days,' but that oversimplifies how life actually was. Yes, in many ways, it was a much more innocent time. But it was also a scary time. It was the era of the Cold War, when we feared that we could be attacked by the Soviets at any time. (Remember "Duck and Cover" drills?) And it was also when polio was terrorizing the country. Back then, polio was often called "infantile paralysis," since most of its victims were children. In 1952, there was such a severe outbreak that more than 57,000 contracted the disease, and more than 3,000 died.     

But then, a scientist named Jonas Salk changed everything. Salk was the son of immigrants, a brilliant student who entered college when he was just fifteen. He was fascinated by medical research, and after graduating from medical school and getting his MD in 1939, he focused on developing a vaccine for polio. It took many years and many experiments, but finally, he succeeded. And in 1955, there was a vaccine for polio, and millions of lives were saved as a result.

Soon, other vaccines were developed, and they addressed a wide range of diseases: for example, the measles vaccine came along in the mid-1960s, and it was greeted enthusiastically, because prior to this vaccine, hundreds of kids died from measles every year. In fact, thanks to the availability of this and other vaccines, measles was declared to be eliminated in the US in the year 2000. Back then, getting vaccinated was not considered controversial: it was widely accepted that parents would want their kids to have access, because vaccines saved lives. 

Most Americans had great respect for science, and with good reason. After all, it was an era that saw numerous medical advances. In addition to vaccines, there were new medicines to treat illnesses that had killed people in previous generations. There were better and more effective treatments for burns. There were advances in detection of certain kinds of cancers-- this was crucial because early detection often saved lives. (I am the personal beneficiary of early detection: in 2014, my doctors were able to detect a tumor that turned out to be cancerous. They were able to operate on it before the cancer had spread, something that would have been impossible only a few decades earlier.)   

I don't know what happened. I don't know how we became a society where in many parts of the country, parents are intentionally letting their kids get measles, or questioning childhood vaccines. I don't know why our Department of Health and Human Services is now led by people who portray medical science as something that can't be trusted. Even the Center for Disease Control now promotes long-debunked myths. We used to be so hopeful and optimistic about what medical science could do; now, we are led by people who tell us that medical science is dangerous. 

All I know is if it weren't for advances in medical science, I wouldn't be here. Neither would millions of Americans who know from firsthand experience that vaccines save lives, or who know that advances in the detection and treatment of various diseases should be praised-- not feared. I don't want to live in a world where measles or polio make a comeback. I don't want to live in a world where lifesaving treatments are no longer available. And yet, that's the direction we seem to be heading. And I don't understand why so many people seem okay with it. I'm not okay with it. I hope you're not either. And I hope enough people will speak up before the gains we've made are reversed-- to the detriment of us all.