Large Bird
Back when Senator Ted Cruz was watching Sesame Street at the tender age of 2, an episode of the famed children's show featured a eight-foot-tall, effete, gangly bird stumbling upon a vaccination stand. This bird can not fly, and he encountered several children patiently standing in line to receive a measles vaccine. The measles vaccine was developed and tested in the late 1950's before being licensed in 1963 and eventually combined to the MMR vaccine in 1971. The "Don't Wait - Vaccinate" campaign, aided by the absolute abomination pictured above, was featured on season 3 of Sesame Street in February of 1972. Measles persisted for several years until cases dropped precipitously in 1981 thanks to the effectiveness of the vaccine. By 2000, the disease was considered eliminated in the United States. But in 1972, measles was still affecting millions of people, including children. Sesame Street was quite young when this campaign was aired, but had already made a po...