A Horrifying Reminder of What Life Without Vaccines Was Really Like.

By Ana Swanson for The Washington Post

“The patient is placed on the sliding bed, shoved into the cabinet and the shield tightly locked. A rubber collar, which fits so snugly that almost no air can pass, is adjusted about the patient's neck. A switch is turned, and the cabinet begins its work.”

This is how a 1930 article in “Popular Mechanics” described an “an artificial lung on wheels.” Better known as a tank respirator or iron lung, the machine pictured above was once a cutting-edge and living saving treatment for victims of polio. And it is a chilling reminder of what life without vaccines looked like -- and why we should worry about efforts to prevent kids from getting the shots that protect them, and other children, from diseases like measles.

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