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Vaccine Advances and the Prism of History
March 24, 2026,
12:15 p.m. ET
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A Voice From Norway
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Vanessa Woods
To the Editor:
“
I Grew Up Unvaccinated. I’m Lucky I Didn’t Get Sick
,” by Elisabeth Marnik (Opinion guest essay, March 1), is both reassuring and troubling.
As the son of a pediatrician growing up in Forest Hills, Queens, I had a ringside seat to fretful parents from all the backgrounds that midcentury Queens had to offer — and to the near godlike status they assigned my father, who dispelled those fears with an unshakable faith in the 20th-century miracle of vaccines.
My father’s case was bolstered by the fact that iron lungs, high infant mortality rates and outbreaks of diseases like measles and diphtheria had only recently been consigned to history. He had trained with the eminent child psychologist Lee Salk — the brother of Dr. Jonas Salk, who developed the polio vaccine — and so his veneration of modern immunology was both personal and professional.
I am reassured by Dr. Marnik’s story because it shows that it is possible to overcome biases and misconceptions, but it is not easily replicated. I agree with her that one does not overcome those powerful notions with strictly factual or statistical arguments.
I also do not envy the pediatricians of today, who must battle dis- and misinformation. The physician-as-god is indeed dead, or perhaps on life support, courtesy of TikTok, A.I. and the internet.
We need a way to overcome ignorance on a mass scale. Dr. Marnik’s journey, while reassuring, does not fill me with confidence.
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