Vaccines do not care whether you are dumb or not. They are dumbagnostic

So, say thank you.

I still remember one kid from my primary school days. I remember his name, his face, and even the way his hair naturally stood up like spikes without any effort on his part. Affable. Charming. While I’ve forgotten the names of so many classmates over the years, his name remains vivid. He stood out—not just because he was different, but because of who he was.

He mostly played referee during our games because he couldn’t run. I think it was one of his legs—though my memory is hazy now. He had polio and couldn’t walk like other kids.

Imagine the agony he must have faced every single day. I can’t do this. I can’t do that. Thankfully, there were no bullies in our class, and we treated him with kindness, never making him feel excluded. But the difference was still there, quietly lingering in the background. It was something none of us could ignore, especially when we left the classroom and headed to the playground. It hovered, unspoken yet present, like a shadow waiting for the right moment to reassert itself.

He was the only one in our class with polio—a life-altering condition he never chose, yet one he was forced to endure. He was handed a life he didn’t sign up for, one he had no choice but to navigate.

Vaccine hesitancy, defined as the delay in accepting or outright refusal of vaccination despite the availability of vaccination services, is rising globally. This reluctance has been fueled by the spread of misinformation online and on social media.

The reluctance to accept vaccines can be directly linked to economic status, level of education, and anxiety about the side effects of vaccines.

Despite comprising only 5% of the global population, the United States accounts for 15% of the world's COVID-19 deaths, with vaccine hesitancy at the heart of this tragedy. It stands as a damning indictment of the political maneuvering surrounding vaccines that a country—one that developed the COVID-19 vaccine with unprecedented speed—paid the highest human toll of the pandemic. Instead of celebrating this remarkable scientific achievement, vaccinated politicians and opportunists exploited social media and other platforms to spread anti-vaccine rhetoric, preying on public fears.

Vaccine hesitancy didn’t emerge on its own; it has been deliberately stoked by political opportunists. The tragic irony is that the very people who support these politicians and fund these grifters are the ones who ultimately bear the consequences.

The anti-vaccine movement, which gained momentum in the wake of COVID-19, is now spreading worldwide. We may have inadvertently set the stage for future generations—such as Brazil’s—to suffer unnecessary consequences, all based on unfounded fears and deceit.

The commemoration of 32 years of polio eradication in Brazil, in particular, has brought a bitter taste of vaccine coverage further away from the target of protected children, which was last achieved in 2015.

The current vaccination campaign only reached 67 % of the target population, and the booster dose only reached 52 % of the population.

Vaccination hesitancy in the country has worsened in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, owing to the widespread dissemination of fake news and disinformation caused by Brazilian political polarization, and has been exacerbated by opposing positions taken by President Jair Messias Bolsonaro and the Brazilian scientific community, which can be cited as crucial in discouraging adherence to vaccination campaigns, such as polio

Not just polio vaccine, all kids vaccines are now under attack from the anti-vax grifter movement.

“Summary statistics from MSAEFI from 1979 to 1990 showed 3 deaths after administration of measles vaccine”- Adverse Events Associated with Childhood Vaccines: Evidence Bearing on Causality.