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Millions were vaccinated for Spanish flu in the US

During the Spanish Flu of 1919-1920, known today as the deadliest pandemic in recent history, vaccines that purported to prevent or cure Spanish Flu were administered to millions of people in the US. They were given to military, residents of state institutions like prisons and mental hospitals, employees of large corporations, and more.

This mass vaccination campaign is well-documented in a 2010 paper published in the journal of the Office of the US Surgeon General and the US Public Health Service (1):

“These vaccines were widely used. Park’s vaccine was released to the military for use in Army camps as well as to private physicians. It was also used as corporate policy among industrial workers, including the 14,000 employees of the Consolidated Gas Company and 275,000 employees of the U.S. Steel Company. Leary’s vaccine was used frequently during the epidemic in state custodial institutions of the Northeast and by some private physicians. Duval and Harris reported immunizing approximately 5,000 people, most of whom were employees of large New Orleans companies. Almost without exception, those reporting on the use of these Pfeiffer’s bacillus vaccines reported that they were effective in preventing influenza.”

All the vaccines for Spanish Flu were based on the theory that a bacteria called Pfeiffer’s bacillus caused influenza—a theory that had been in vogue for several decades by that time. That theory was eventually discredited by the medical industry in the 1930s, when it declared that a different microorganism, viruses, caused the flu.

The very successful conspiracy to conceal Spanish Flu vaccines

In spite of the undeniable evidence confirming the mass-vaccination campaign in the US during the Spanish flu, most people don’t know the vaccines even existed. Why? Because there’s an ongoing conspiracy to conceal it.

If you browse the internet for information on Spanish flu vaccines, you’ll find results like these:

— “Influenza vaccines did not exist at the time, and even antibiotics had not been developed yet. […] doctors were left with few treatment options other than supportive care.” – Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

— “With no vaccine to protect against influenza infection and no antibiotics to treat secondary bacterial infections that can be associated with influenza infections, control efforts worldwide were limited to non-pharmaceutical interventions…” – CDC

— “The claim that the influenza pandemic of 1918 ‘was the after-effect of the massive nation-wide vaccine campaign’ is unfounded. A vaccine against the flu did not exist at the time.” – Reuter’s

— “With no vaccine to protect against the virus, people were urged to isolate, quarantine, practice good personal hygiene, and limit social interaction.” – National Archives

— “At the time, there were no effective drugs or vaccines to treat this killer flu strain.” – History Channel

None of those sources mention anything about any vaccines used during the pandemic.

Wikipedia is one of the few sources that mention Spanish flu vaccines—but only with a few sentences suggesting they played a minor role as accidental miracles.

It’s therefore no surprise that most people have no idea that a mass-vaccination campaign was a major component of the Spanish flu response—just like it has been in the COVID19 response. Widespread ignorance of that fact didn’t happen by accident.

Definitions and literal truths matter in propaganda

When I first introduced the idea of Spanish Flu vaccines in the comment section of a pro-vax blog, I was predictably attacked by regular commenters parroting propaganda like that shown above, falsely claiming that Spanish flu vaccines are a crazy conspiracy theory. Still, eventually they were forced to accept the undeniable existence of the vaccines.

But dedicated industry trolls and true believers don’t give up that easily. They recently leapt to the CDC’s defense, outraged by my accusation of lying and coverups. Unfortunately for them, the only really plausible defense to lying is a sketchy one, based on technicalities in the definition of “Spanish flu vaccine.”

The literal truth: Is it a “vaccine,” or just a vaccine?

A defense based on the technical definition of “Spanish flu vaccine” may seem strange under the circumstances, but I anticipated it early on, based on my graduate training in social engineering. Literal truth is very important in propaganda—it’s an ethical principle of sorts, something that makes covert manipulation palatable to the people who do it, who still retain traces of a normal conscience. If there’s a way to interpret a statement as literally true, then it’s ‘okay,’ even though you know people are going to misinterpret it—and you want them to.

Ultimately, I decided that probably no one would try the literal definition defense, because there’s just no way for it not to look slimy. Claiming that no “Spanish flu vaccines” existed, without mentioning the millions of vaccines that clearly did exist and purported to prevent and cure Spanish flu, has the undeniable appearance of intentional deception, whatever definitions you apply.

But I was mistaken—several commenters made the argument that Spanish flu vaccines didn’t technically fit the definition of “Spanish flu vaccine,” and therefore, Spanish flu vaccines never existed.

If you aren’t following me, hang in there—remember, we’re living in a cartoon world now.

Here, the concept is explained by a regular commenter I’ll call “TB” for True Believer, who follows his screen name with an impressive “PhD, MPH” (Masters of Public Health). The letters make his pronouncements about my stupidity and idiocy all the more impressive. The bolding is mine.

[TB], PhD, MPH says:

July 28, 2022 at 9:28 pm

@ Ginny Stoner

You write: “Just for clarification–you are claiming the CDC’s 2 statements above, that Spanish Flu vaccines didn’t exist, are true.?

Yep, Spanish Flu vaccines didn’t exist. Just because people at the time thought the vaccines were for Spanish Flu doesn’t make it so. I’ve explained over and over again; but you really are TOO STUPID to understand. […]

Another regular commenter was kind enough to not only set me straight about the definition of “vaccine,” but also to point out the depth of my ignorance for not going along with the con:

[TB Too] says:

July 23, 2022 at 10:19 pm

There were no vaccines against influenza viruses used during the Spanish flu pandemic, as the virus was not discovered as the cause of influenza until 1933. […] The CDC was correct that there was no vaccine available for influenza. All the vaccines targeted other organisms.

The lecture continued:

[TB Too] says:

July 25, 2022 at 6:35 am

This comment neatly encapsulates the shallowness of your understanding of biology. Just because someone asserted their preparation was a vaccine for influenza, does not make it a vaccine for influenza. It can only be a vaccine if it targets the organism or a protein produced by the organism. Targeting a completely different organism that is not causing the disease is not a vaccine for influenza.

How to lie without “lying”

Here’s a summary of the tortured reasoning whereby it’s perfectly ethical for public health agencies like the CDC and the media to claim there were no Spanish flu vaccines:

A “vaccine” is something that targets a microorganism that causes a particular disease.
Spanish flu vaccines targeted bacteria that caused the flu—except they discovered a decade later that the bacteria didn’t actually cause the flu. That means the vaccines didn’t really target the disease, even though everyone thought they did at the time, and so technically they didn’t fit the definition of a “vaccine.”
Therefore, the claim that no Spanish flu vaccines existed is true—even though millions of vaccines purporting to prevent and cure Spanish flu were administered at that time.

Are you sarcastically laughing out loud yet, or at least rolling your eyes and snorting? I hope so. How can anyone make this claim with a straight face and a conscience? It’s clearly flat-out intentional deception, designed to keep the public ignorant of the Spanish flu mass-vaccination campaign.

Why the Spanish flu vaccine coverup?

I can think of a couple possible reasons for covering up the existence of Spanish flu vaccines:

The medical industry doesn’t want people to know it was wrong for decades about what caused the flu (and is still wrong), and that it produced millions of vaccines based on a faulty theory of causation, which at best didn’t do what they claimed to do, and at worst injured and killed many.
The Spanish flu vaccines were actually a tool for intentional genocide, and the ‘pandemic’ was just a cover for it.
Either of these scenarios could repeat a hundred years from now, with the CDC or its successor claiming COVID19 vaccines didn’t exist, and there was a high death toll “from COVID19.” They’re primed and ready, since many people are already saying the shots are “not vaccines.”

I’m open to other ideas, if anyone has any.

*******

NOTES:

(1) Eyler J. M. (2010). The state of science, microbiology, and vaccines circa 1918. Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974), 125 Suppl 3(Suppl 3), 27–36. https://doi.org/10.1177/00333549101250S306 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/00333549101250S306

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Trolls, true believers, and other lying liars