The “vaccine might be a killer,” a broadcaster warned.

It’s “unchristian,” a local clergyman said.

San Francisco: The congregation of the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption praying on the steps, where they gathered to hear mass and pray during the influenza pandemic of 1918.

When Jonas Salk, physician-scientist, first developed a vaccine for polio, influential radio broadcaster Walter Winchell told his listeners not to take the vaccine because it “might be a killer.”

Salk tested the vaccine in secret. The March of Dimes approved the results and a virus that could paralyze and kill was eradicated.

When the smallpox virus ravaged England and America, a clergyman said the vaccine developed was “unchristian” because it came from another animal. As protests spread, so did the deadly disease, killing approximately 300 million since 1900 alone.

The fear and protests began to fade as the public began to trust the science and see the positive results.

During the Spanish flu epidemic in 1918, people in San Francisco flocked to church to pray for a miracle knowing little how communicable the disease was. Ultimately, the flu killed 50 to 100 million people.

Critics of the Coronavirus have aimed their distrust—and for some, hate—toward government institutions and individuals that have worked tirelessly to keep the public safe and developed and approved a vaccine for Covid-19 faster than ever before.

Today, however, protests and hate are faster than a speeding bullet.

Some GOP candidates are using Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984 and helped lead the response to public health crises, including AIDS and Ebola, has become a political target for campaign 2022.

Fauci—a man whose only agenda is to keep Americans safe—is not only pummeled by Trumpist candidates and supporters–he’s now become the embodiment of the country’s profound division: Us v. Them; trust v. cynicism.

Shockingly, some on the wrong side of science and history “are parroting right-wing commentators who compare Dr. Fauci to the brutal Nazi doctor Josef Mengele.”

“‘He needs to be brought up on charges,’ declared Lisadiana Bates, a former business owner who is home-schooling her children. Echoing Dr. Robert Malone, who has become a conservative celebrity by arguing that Covid vaccine mandates are unethical experiments, she asserted that Dr. Fauci had ‘violated the Nuremberg Code,’ the set of research ethics developed after the Holocaust.”

No, he hasn’t.

“In Wisconsin, Kevin Nicholson, a onetime Democrat running for governor as a conservative outsider, says Dr. Fauci “should be fired and referred to prosecutors.’”

Here are just a few of the crazy social media posts that have popped up:

“Dr. Anthony Fauci planned the AIDS epidemic.”

“Dr. Fauci says every American should be micro-chipped.”

“Jerome Corsi, a conservative author, and conspiracy theorist says Dr. Anthony Fauci’s name appears on ‘4 U.S. patents for a key glycoprotein’ used to ‘create the current COVID-19 epidemic.'”

Florida Senator Marco Rubio said, “Dr. Fauci lied about masks in March.”

“Dr. Anthony Fauci ‘stands to lose 100 million dollars on Bill Gates’s “vaccine” for the coronavirus. Because he invested in this vaccine.”

Of the 22 quotes PolitiFact checked all were declared either “False” or “Pants-on-Fire” false.

In his defense, Fauci says, “I didn’t make myself a polarizing figure. I’ve been demonized by people who are running away from the truth.”

In a heated exchange in a Senate hearing, Fauci noted the effects from Kentucky Senator Rand Paul’s wild, baseless attacks have had. “What happens when [Paul] gets out and accuses me of things that are completely untrue,” Fauci said, “is that all of a sudden that kindles the crazies out there, and I have … threats upon my life, harassment of my family and my children with obscene phone calls because people are lying about me.”

Fauci has had security protection since 2020.

“As some of you may know, just about three or four weeks ago on December 21st, a person was arrested who was on their way from Sacramento to Washington, D.C., at a speed stop in Iowa,” Fauci told the Paul during the Senate hearing. “And the police asked him where he was going, and he was going to Washington, D.C., to kill Dr. Fauci.”

It gets worse.

Fauci noted that Paul’s website says, “Fire Dr. Fauci” and includes “a little box that says contribute here. You can do $5, $10, $20, $100,” Fauci said. “So, you are making a catastrophic epidemic for your political gain.”

One wonders the kind of threats Jonas Salk, Louis Pasteur, and hundreds of other medical scientists since then might have faced if they were working today. Under that kind of intimidation, would Salk and Pasteur been able to succeed in their vital work, today?

Memo to: Truckers Blocking Bridges and Roads Protesting a Vaccination Mandate Costing Millions to Other Workers: It’s just a free SHOT, people!

What will it take for some to cooperate and accept the truth?

Pray for a miracle.