What did people do before child vaccines?

They died young, watched their friends, children and loved ones also suffer with lifelong effects of diseases that can now be prevented. There are people in other countries that still get diseases like rubella, polio, measles etc. I work as a nurse at a doctors office and just last month the Doctor diagnosed an infant with whooping cough. And this was a child of an upper middle class loving family who were just a little late getting vaccinated. The diseases are not eradicated they are waiting out there for an unvaccinated host. Go to cdc.gov to learn more about vaccines.