Imagine living in a world where chicken pox and measles devastated communities, parents kept their children isolated out of fear of polio, and societies were paralyzed by fear and uncontrollable outbreaks. A recent trend on TikTok did just this, utilizing AI to simulate life during periods without vaccines, sparking significant discourse about what the world would look like today without them. Surprisingly, we’re not so far away from that reality. Vaccines transformed our relationship with outbreaks, offering protection, peace of mind, and, more recently, ignorance. In the age of advanced science and near-instant information, people are beginning to forget what life looked like without them.

Historically, vaccines have been one of our most powerful tools against world-threatening epidemics. Smallpox, a virus that killed an estimated 300 million people in the 20th century alone, was eradicated in 1980 because of global vaccination efforts. Because of vaccines, Polio is nearly extinct, with cases reduced by over 99% since 1988. An estimated 60 million measles deaths were prevented between 2000 and 2023. A more recent example? Before vaccines, COVID-19 killed an estimated 3 out of every 100 people infected globally, and it was even worse in compromised populations. In some early hospital systems, ICU deaths reached as high as 65%. Covid mRNA vaccines prevented Covid-19-related deaths by 72%. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the death toll in the week of January 9, 2021, was 25,974; since then, that number has reduced dramatically due to vaccines, with the recent data polling at 268 deaths a week as of April 12, 2025. Staggering as these figures are, the fading of diseases like polio and measles has given the public amnesia about the devastating impacts of epidemics. This historical amnesia has fueled a dangerous trend—vaccine skepticism. 

Living in a world where people largely believe measles is a simple cough and chickenpox is just dots on the skin, the public has gotten too comfortable with rejecting vaccines. The recent pandemic sparked global conversations about vaccines, but not in the ways many expected. The vaccine development and quarantine efforts at that time were some of the biggest feats ever seen in medicine and pandemic control. However, the rollout of these efforts was met with hesitation, conspiracy theories, deep skepticism, and overall propaganda. Canvassing the USC campus during the Charlie Kirk visit, I spoke to over a dozen students and guests who said they “didn’t trust the COVID vaccine or get it.” When I pressed about why, an overwhelming number of answers were related to the speed at which the vaccines were rolled out. However, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine underwent a full 3-phase clinical trial with over 43,000 participants before being approved for the public. 

The distrust in vaccines reflects a trend in public attitudes, where misinformation—often rapidly spreading misinformation—plays a big role in shaping public health behavior. Diseases once thought to be controlled and behind us are now quietly making their comeback. Since 2023, the U.S. has reported several measles outbreaks in under-vaccinated communities and even found polio in New York wastewater, showing the urgency of the issue.

As a society, we now stand at a crossroads, one where science, collective memory, and social responsibility must intersect. To listen to the warnings, pay attention to the signs, and watch the news. Losing trust in vaccines isn’t just a rejection of the science, it's an invitation for history to repeat itself.