The Paradox of Vaccines

Celebrating my daughter's 100th day of life, a milestone rooted in tradition from ancient times.

Source: Myself

When my daughter turned 100 days old, we threw a huge celebration. It’s an old tradition born from a time when living through the first three months of life was an accomplishment. High infant mortality, poor sanitation, and widespread infectious disease meant survival wasn’t guaranteed. Reaching 100 days was a milestone because it meant the baby was strong and more likely to survive into adulthood. Families would gather to introduce the baby to the community, and offer blessings of health, luck, and longevity.

As I held my daughter that day, I couldn’t help but think how much our world has changed. A century ago, average life expectancy in the U.S. was just 54 years. Nearly 1 in 3 children never made it to age 5. Parents lived under the constant threat that a cough, rash, or fever could end in tragedy. Infectious diseases like polio, diphtheria, measles, and smallpox were common threats that cut childhoods short without warning.

Today, my daughter’s milestones, like her first steps and birthdays, are moments of joy without fear. That didn’t happen by accident. One of the most powerful reasons is vaccines. Yet, paradoxically, the very success of vaccines has given rise to a new problem: vaccine hesitancy.

The World Before Vaccines

It’s easy to forget just how devastating preventable diseases once were. Measles wasn’t a childhood inconvenience; it killed. Polio didn’t just affect a few kids; it paralyzed thousands of people every year in the U.S. Diphtheria swept through communities, blocking airways in children and suffocating them. Smallpox disfigured, blinded, and killed millions around the world before it was finally eradicated in 1977.

As a physician with a background in public health, I know that we don’t fear these diseases today because vaccines have worked so well. They saved millions of lives and pushed once unimaginable tragedies into the background of history. But history is only one generation away from repeating itself.

The Paradox of Vaccine Success

When something works as well as vaccines have, it becomes invisible. Today, parents rarely see a child on a ventilator from diphtheria. Most physicians have never cared for a patient with polio. Aside from the recent resurgence of measles, most new doctors have never seen a live case of this once-devastating disease. Because these illnesses are no longer part of our daily reality, they feel distant and abstract. Meanwhile, the risks of vaccines, however rare, loom larger in people’s minds.

Psychologists call this availability heuristic: the bias that makes us fear what feels immediate and visible, and downplay facts or dangers we haven’t personally seen. A story about a vaccine side effect on social media feels more real than a disease most of us have never personally encountered.

This cognitive bias plays a quiet but powerful role in fueling doubt, even in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence. This is the paradox of vaccine success. The very reason people questions vaccines now is because they worked so well in the past.

Vaccine Hesitancy in the Exam Room

As a family physician, I sit with many patients who are hesitant about vaccines. Some worry about long-term side effects. Some simply fear the pain of a shot. Others carry a deep distrust of the healthcare system, especially those from communities that have been historically mistreated by medicine. Many are overwhelmed by conflicting information online.

Being on the frontlines of the pandemic, receiving the first COVID-19 shot brought a huge sense of relief.

Source: Myself

I can understand their fear. Their concerns are rooted in uncertainty, trauma and a desire to protect themselves and their families. They deserve to be heard.

But my job is also to remember what we’ve lived through. I’ve seen patients gasping for air during the COVID-19 pandemic. I’ve witnessed the heartbreak of loss, lives taken by a virus we now have vaccines to protect against. I remember the chaotic atmosphere in the hospital, and the families who didn’t get to say goodbye.

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I think about what life was like before vaccines, when parents didn’t plan for birthdays. When they prayed their children would survive to adolescence. When funerals for children and family members were far too common.

Vaccine hesitancy is not ignorance; it's fear. Fear can be met with both compassion and the truth. As physicians, we have the responsibility of providing not just empathy, but also educating our patients on evidence based medicine. Vaccines save lives and remain one of the most powerful, effective tools we have in public health.

A Physician’s Call to Remember

Every vaccine refusal, every delayed immunization, feels like we’re striking a match near a fire we once fought desperately to put out. Vaccine hesitancy isn’t a political debate; it’s deeply personal. It’s about lives that could be spared and futures that still depend on the choices we make today.

The lesson from history is clear: Life expectancy was much shorter when we lived without vaccines. The question is: Do we value our medical and scientific progress enough to protect it?

When I talk with patients about vaccines, I don’t start with statistics or scare tactics. I lead with empathy and shared humanity. I understand that hesitation often comes from fear and lived experience. My role is to offer evidence-based truth with compassion, to create a safe space for honest questions, and to stand firmly in the science.

Vaccines are not just shots. They are tools that allow us, as physicians, to shift from reaction to prevention. They are the reason children grow up without fearing polio. The reason parents can send their kids to school without holding their breath. The reason we get to celebrate birthdays, graduations, weddings and all the quiet, ordinary moments that were once not promised to us.

Vaccines are medicine at its best: prevention that protects not just life, but the chance to fully live it.

Let’s not forget what we’ve gained, or what we stand to lose.