When the Newcastle Heraldposted a story on social media about the protest at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance, a reader responded by posting a fascinating photo.
Ali Dee posted the photo, which showed Australian Infantry soldiers of the 21st Battalion receiving cholera vaccinations in Egypt, prior to leaving for Gallipoli in 1915.
The scenes of angry young men protesting in Melbourne were perhaps a bit intimidating for some people. So we could do with a bit of humour around the topic.
We thought it was pretty funny that all those tough blokes were scared of getting a needle. Bunch of princesses. They should toughen up, like those soldiers in Gallipoli.
It was also kind of hilarious that all these tough blokes were angry about their tea rooms being banned. We feel for those blokes being denied their little lunchtime tea parties. Wonder if anyone brings cakes or scones to have with the tea?
Seriously though, we feel for construction workers who can't work at the moment due to COVID [we feel for others who can't work, too]. But if the protesters really want to invoke the spirit of soldiers in war, they should probably read a piece by Kendall Hoyt - Assistant Professor of Medicine at Dartmouth College in the US.
She wrote in The Conversation in 2015 that "war and disease have marched arm-in-arm for centuries".
"Before World War II, soldiers died more often of disease than of battle injuries.
"The ratio of disease-to-battle casualties was approximately 5 to 1 in the Spanish-American War and 2 to 1 in the Civil War. Improved sanitation reduced disease casualties in World War I, but it could not protect troops from the 1918 influenza pandemic. During the outbreak, flu accounted for roughly half of US military casualties in Europe."
During the Second World War in Europe, the US military recognised that infectious disease was "as formidable an enemy as any other they would meet on the battlefield".
"So they forged a new partnership with industry and academia to develop vaccines. Vaccines were attractive to the military for the simple reason that they reduced the overall number of sick days for troops more effectively than most therapeutic measures."
In 1941, the US Army began to develop the first flu vaccine. It feared another pandemic, as it prepared to enter WWII after the attack on Pearl Harbour.
Wartime vaccine programs were expanded beyond the "traditional focus on dysentery, typhus and syphilis".
"These new research initiatives targeted influenza, bacterial meningitis, bacterial pneumonia, measles, mumps, neurotropic diseases, tropical diseases and acute respiratory diseases. These diseases not only posed risks to military readiness, but also to civilian populations."
We also came across a 1997 NSW Public Health Bulletin that stated: "The first stimulus to the production of vaccines in Australia was the threat of shortages during WWI".
"In the 50 years after the end of WWII, the introduction of cell culture technology enabled the production of the modern viral vaccines for the prevention of poliomyelitis, measles, rubella, mumps and hepatitis."
Just shows some great battles have been won against disease with vaccines.
Drawing Blood
Newcastle comedian Rhys Nicholson tweeted: "In early 2020, I got my first COVID test and, as well as a nasal swab, the nurse took some blood. I am yet to meet another person who ever had blood taken. Basically I'm just wondering if a lady stole my blood."
