Life — October 16, 1931 — page 4: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Conquest of Diphtheria" This is a **public health advertisement** by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, not satire or political commentary. The page advocates for **diphtheria vaccination**, presenting it as a medical triumph. The two photographs show **medical inoculation scenes**: healthcare workers administering vaccines to children. The accompanying text criticizes vaccine skeptics as "easy-going, optimistic folk who refuse to consider the possibility of tragedy," arguing that parents who fail to inoculate their children endanger them. The message is straightforward public health promotion: diphtheria deaths dropped dramatically through vaccination, and "every child should be inoculated, preferably when but a six months old baby." The company offers a free informational booklet to encourage adoption of this preventive medical practice.