Los Angeles Hillsong Church parishioner dies from COVID-19. He made anti-vax jokes online and on Instagram from his hospital bed.AdvertisementThese kinds of stories were allowed to circulate for a week. The delta variant has risen and it became obvious that this is becoming a pandemic of the non-vaccinated. A 1975 poster by the World Health Organization, which was created to promote worldwide child vaccination campaigns, is a perfect example of health authorities' belief in this morality tale. Two mothers are featured on the poster: one who has vaccinated her baby and one who has not. The mother who is hesitant to get vaccinated after an epidemic has occurred, but her baby was not affected, stands over a small bed and begs the worker for help. The mother weeps as she looks at the small bed.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAndrea Kitta, a researcher on vaccination folklore suggests that the fable can serve many social functions. It reassures the reader that they made the right choice by confirming the in-group of vaccinated people. Jonathan Berman, author Anti-Vaxxers, says that the fable gives the vaccinated some choice-supportive bias/post-purchase rationalization. He points out that people look up reviews on cars or vacation destinations they've been to to ensure that they made the right decision. It's also a joy for unvaccinated people when they realize that they are wrong and are forced to accept a shared reality. This is something that has been difficult to find in Trump's years. Kitta shared a meme that she had seen recently. It was about the saying "You can't fix stupid" and included a photo of the coronavirus next to a speech bubble. (Kinda, it was a rough one there.AdvertisementThese stories are often circulated with a certain amount of meanness. Unsympathetic responses to a tweet by a Missourian anti-vax father, 31, who said goodbye to his 6-year old son on a ventilator, were received. This story, like many others, also featured the father's stated desire to get the vaccine, if he is able to recover. One rep claimed that they should be sent home with the religious book of their choice. It would be great if there was scientific evidence of how dangerous this virus is, and the potential consequences. Another snarked. Here's how concerned I am for someone who was given 18 months of warnings and had the chance to get the vaccine.AdvertisementAdvertisementWhat about the onlookers? These stories might be serving a different purpose. The media circus created by the American smallpox epidemics in the early 20th Century is an example of how this fable can and does not convince people to change their views on vaccination. Many people opposed compulsory vaccination against smallpox during this period, citing their fear of the quality of vaccines, their inability to work, and/or resistance to government compulsion. Michael Willrich, historian, points out that this was a time when newspapers featured Fables of the Sick Anti-Vaxxer. The New York Times reported that one person had died from the disease that he defied. The Times also editorialized that an epidemic broke out in Zion City in Illinois in 1904. This is an excellent opportunity, though potentially dangerous, to explore what faith can do with such a disease.AdvertisementAdvertisementImmanuel Peiffer was the center of the media frenzy that made this type of event so memorable. I will be retelling his story using Karen Walloch's account in The Antivaccine Heresy. Pfeiffer was an outlaw on the side of Boston's public health authorities. Walloch reports that Pfeiffer ran Our Home Rights magazine which railed against compulsory vaccines while advancing other Progressive Era causes such as pacifism, vegetarianism, and he addressed every public forum on the subject. Pfeiffer was publicity-stunt-friendly, having fasted for weeks on two occasions as a way to attract people to his medical practice. Pfeiffer was a licensed physician, but he also participated in fringe-y practices like using hypnotism to treat his patients or treating people via mail.AdvertisementSamuel Holmes Durgin was the Boston Board of Health chairman and was compelled to give smallpox to Pfeiffer, who had been beaten to death in the city by smallpox. Durgin had publicly stated that Pfeiffer was a danger to his health. Durgin offered the adults and top leaders of anti-vaccinationists a chance to publicly test their beliefs by personally inspecting patients. Pfeiffer said hed do it. Pfeiffer visited Gallops Island's smallpox isolation center and gave a tour to patients. He then disappeared, took public transportation home and attended a meeting at a church.AdvertisementAdvertisementPfeiffer disappeared from the public eye thirteen days later. That's about how long it takes to incubate smallpox cases. Durgin was questioned by reporters whether his wager had been foolish. He said that he had sent a policeman out to track Pfeiffer, and ensure that he didn't get smallpox. He was quickly located by police detectives and the press. Pfeiffers smallpox, which was diagnosed at age ten, was fully developed when he was finally found by health authorities at his Bedford family farm.Walloch wrote that the press was flooded with editorials and articles about Walloch's illness. Walloch was a victim of his professional vanity and folly. The Boston Herald published an editorial under the headline Anti-Vaccinationist May not Live. One of the health officials, Pfeiffer, said that he tried to take pictures of his face covered in pustules with the intent of publishing it. (His physician intervened.)AdvertisementYes, Pfeiffer did live. He refused to admit that the experience was a negative one. He claimed that the reason he contracted the disease was not because he wasn't vaccinated but because he was overworked and tired. Even though he refused to admit that his neighbors were upset at him for the stunt, he said that they were just mad that the vaccines that they ran out to get after learning that he had smallpox had made their sick.AdvertisementAdvertisementEven this extreme case of the Fable of the Sick Anti-Vaxxer did not seem to have the desired effect, as authorities had hoped. After this story was published, the Boston health department conducted a vaccination sweep and received little opposition. The case of Dr. Pfeiffer proved to be a valuable lesson for vaccination. After learning about Pfeiffer's survival, the vaccinators had less success when they went back to knocking on the doors a few weeks later. Other anti-vaccinationists also refused to recognize this episode as a blow to the cause. They claimed that it was only one anecdote and Durgin should be more cautious. Also, Pfeiffer's 60-year-old childhood vaccination meant that he was actually immunized and his illness was proof that vaccines don't work. Walloch claims that the episode wasn't the persuasive tool Durgin was hoping for. Different people may have different meanings of the anti-vaxxers illness.AdvertisementIn his book, Berman categorizes anti-anti-vaccination persuasion tactics in three ways: reactive (think mean-spirited arguments with anti-vaxxers); information-deficit (dumping info on people); and community-based (tactics that demonstrate that other people around anti-vaxxers are vaccinating, taking into consideration their self-identity and values). These lessons are based on research that was done about vaccination drives in support of childhood vaccines. They may or might not be applicable to current situations. These new fables are only as useful as the people who believe them. When our fragile hopes of a post-pandemic normalcy are slipping away due to the refusal of others to get vaccinated, it is difficult to be kind. The Fable of the Sick Anti Vaxxera story, which is aimed at the hesitant and was written by someone who once believed as they did, may work best when we, the vaccined, let it sit. And resist the temptation to gloat.Future Tense is a collaboration between Slate, New America and Arizona State University. It examines emerging technologies and public policy.
