The two doctor-gods of vaccines

From Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It by Gina Kolata.  Page 151.  Again, this is in 1976

It should have been a scene of triumph when President Gerald Ford appeared before the nation to announce his swine flu vaccine. All the elements were there: Advances in science and medicine were going to allow humans to take arms against the virus. The most revered doctors in America, Dr. Jonas Salk and Dr. Albert Sabin, were giving the battle their blessing, flanking President Ford in solidarity. And the end result was going to be an unprecedented effort to prevent what might be a return of one of the worst plagues ever to strike humanity in recorded history.

But the trouble began almost immediately.

The very day that President Ford made his announcement that he was seeking $135 million for a national swine flu vaccine program, critics who had kept mum until that crucial moment suddenly surfaced.

Maybe it was the sheer hubris of President Ford and the two doctor-gods of vaccines, thinking that they could pull this off, assuming that the press would remain credulous and simply report the news. Maybe it was that just beneath the surface of the seemingly unified federal bureaucracies lay dissenters, political advisors, and scientists who told themselves that even if the decision makers did not want to hear them, the public would. Or maybe it was just that there was a critical mass of people who were convinced this swine flu immunization campaign was a cockeyed idea. For whatever reason, the critics lay in wait, ready to spring up and wag their nagging fingers of doubt, under the cloak of anonymity, if they could.

Reporters found these skeptics, of course.