kata-speaks:

Victorian era surgeons didn’t wash their hands and found the suggestion that they should wash their hands offensive.

This was said by Charles Meigs AFTER multiple papers had been published showing how important it was that surgeons wash their hands and sterilize their instruments.

The reason? Class. The gentlemen doctors weren’t like those dirty poor people.

Which sounds a bit like anti-vaxxers.

Because TODAY, when we were going to see the eradication of measles within in our lifetime, the upper crust decided that their children didn’t need to have “chemicals” put in their bodies. And why would they need vaccines anyway? Their upper class precious children could never contract measles… not like those dirty poor people.

If you don’t think this outbreak stems from blatant classism and racism, just remember that the lowest vaccination rates in California are also in its whitest, wealthiest cities.

Diseases don’t’ care about your class. They don’t go “Oh, this unvaccinated person has a lot of money. I should just look for someone who can’t afford healthcare instead.”