Letter to the Editor: Louis Pasteur was ridiculed too

Brazil may not seem like the cutting edge in political skill, but its President Jair Bolsonaro stands accused of crimes against humanity for "organising large gatherings of his supporters and disparaging scientists" during the pandemic that, according to The Economist's calculations, "has resulted in 680,000 excess deaths in Brazil." He may be sent to prison.

Maybe Bolsonaro never heard about the heroic work of Louis Pasteur, who was accused of child abuse for wanting children vaccinated, and was accused of wasting public money for wanting to put sewers underground in the name of public sanitation. Pasteurized milk has saved millions from disease and is named after him.

But some people never get the point that false claims are sometimes popular among the ignorant.

Harry Compton

Bartlesville