What Really Saved the Children:Not The Vaccines. A 178-Year Timeline That Shatters the Vaccine Narrative

Nurse Michele
Jun 26
4 min read

Updated: Jul 3

In episode #2 of Nurse Michele Talks, Debut Podcast, Nurse Michele sits down with health researcher and consultant Nathaniel LaChance to challenge one of the most sacred myths in modern medicine: that vaccines are the reason childhood mortality declined. What Nathaniel presents is a profound, evidence-based timeline spanning from 1847 to 2025, showing that the real drivers of improved child survival were innovations by progressive inventors and healthcare providers as the true public health infrastructure—not mass injections.

His visual asset, titled “Child Mortality and Chronic Disease Prevalence in Developed Countries (Ages 1–5) from 1847–2025,” (see graphic below) outlines key moments in history that revolutionized human health. In 1847, child mortality among 1–5-year-olds was nearly 8,000 per 100,000. But that year marked a turning point—surgical handwashing was introduced. From that moment, a cascade of inventions drove a dramatic and consistent decline in child mortality:

1854 – Dr. John Snow links cholera to a contaminated water pump
1854- Florence Nightingale Systematic Hospital Sanitation, Nursing Reform

1862 – Joseph Bazalgette constructs London’s modern sewer system
1867 – Joseph Lister pioneers antiseptic surgery
1880 – Alphonse Laveran discovers malaria’s origin
1890s–1900s – Lead plumbing becomes common; galvanized steel pipes follow
1908 – Clean municipal water enters urban American life
1918 – The Ford Model T displaces horse-drawn transport, eliminating disease-spreading manure from city streets
1920s – Refrigeration revolutionizes food safety
1925 – Copper plumbing becomes the standard
1950 – Widespread sewer infrastructure in place
1972 – U.S. Clean Water Act is passed
1970s – DDT, once sprayed in schools, is banned
1980 – Lead is removed from toys

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Each of these advances played a measurable role in decreasing infectious disease and childhood mortality—decades before the first widespread childhood vaccines were introduced in the mid-1950s.

But the conversation doesn’t stop there. Nathaniel’s chart also tracks an alarming trend: the steady rise of chronic disease in children following the mass rollout of vaccines and pharmaceutical interventions. While mortality from acute common childhood infections dropped thanks to pioneers in sanitation and nutrition, clean water, and refrigeration; chronic illnesses such as asthma, autoimmune conditions, allergies, and developmental disorders began rising sharply. Interestingly, in the Early 1900’s- The Rockefeller Institute for medical research developed an experimental bacterial meningitis vaccine administered to thousands of US troops stationed at Fort Riley. Direct correlation to “Spanish flu” (that did not originate in Spain) is documented to have originated there, with this vaccine. The illness was not a flu at all, but vaccine induced bacterial pneumonia, misdiagnosed and later mythologized as a viral pandemic. The “Spanish flu “may have been the first major iatrogenic (medically caused) pandemic, caused, not by a virus – but by an experimental bacterial injection. Chronic illness in children begins a steady then, rapid rise after the introduction of antibiotics (1943) and widespread vaccination (1955):

Pre-1943 chronic illness rates held steady between 1,000–2,000 per 100,000

1943 – Introduction of antibiotics

Post-vaccine era:

1955 – Mass childhood vaccination begins
1960s–70s – Industrial food, fortified processed vegetable oils, and glyphosate introduced
1990s – 19 vaccine doses become standard

Chronic illness in children nears 6,000 per 100,000

2010 – Over 30 childhood vaccine doses

2025 – Chronic illness prevalence surpasses 16,000 per 100,000 children

This episode is more than a historical review—it’s a wake-up call. While vaccines address acute infections, their widespread use coincided with unprecedented rises in lifelong, debilitating conditions among children. The data suggests that we traded short-term infection control for long-term disease management—without truly understanding the cost.

Nathaniel also offers a roadmap forward: reconnecting to real food, detoxifying our environment, restoring mineral balance, and empowering parents with knowledge, and Nurse Michele reminds the audience, “If we actually taught families how to care for childhood illnesses like measles—which is simply a respiratory virus with a rash—we’d see stronger, naturally immune children, instead of a generation battling chronic disease.” Acute infectious diseases like measles are respiratory illnesses; we know how to manage them.

That’s why Nurse Michele Talks isn’t just a podcast—it’s a platform for real-world education. At NurseMichele.com, parents can book consults to prepare for childhood illnesses. Amid a new measles outbreak, Nurse Michele shares vital tools: cod liver oil for vitamin A, prescription prep lists from Dr. Richard Bartlett, and home care protocols like Immunemist 1% iodine and Xlear nasal/oral rinses—to support immune defense at the first sign of respiratory illness.

Families deserve education, not fear. It’s time to return to common sense, ancestral wisdom, and the truth about what really keeps our children well.

The full episode, along with Nathaniel’s stunning visual timeline, is available at NurseMichele.com on her blog. This is one conversation every parent, provider, and policymaker needs to hear.

Nahaniel’s Substack: https://substack.com/@mineralchief

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