A titan of vaccine development sees his field's achievements slip away

[Nevilledog]

https://www.statnews.com/2026/03/02/stanley-plotkin-profile-godfather-of-vaccines-worried/

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https://archive.li/fXLbH

Stanley Plotkin recalls a night in 1957, during his pediatrics internship, when a father brought a gravely ill toddler into the Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital on his shift. The 3-year-old was struggling to breathe. Before Plotkin could even examine the little boy, he died.

The child had contracted Haemophilus influenzae type b, a nasty bacterial illness that can cause mild symptoms in some children, but triggers dangerous, more systemic disease in others — things like meningitis, pneumonia, and sepsis. In the case of the boy Plotkin saw, it induced swelling of the epiglottis, the flap at the base of the tongue that prevents food from entering the airways.
When the epiglottis swells, a kid can’t breathe.

“That was a terrible disease which caused a lot of mortality and hospitalizations, and which disappeared after the vaccination,” said Plotkin.

Plotkin, now 93, has seen similar stories play out time and again over his lifetime. Deadly childhood disease after deadly childhood disease quelled by vaccines. It just so happens that he had a hand in developing a number of them, including the vaccines that protect against rubella and rotavirus.

Plotkin is sometimes called the “godfather of vaccines.” His contributions to vaccinology are so substantial, they literally named the field’s go-to textbook after him. “Plotkin’s Vaccines” is now in its eighth edition; a ninth is in production.

*snip*