Viewpoint: ‘Sanitation and nutrition not vaccines’: The rejectionists’ latest false substitute for staying up to date on your shots Jess Steier | November 12, 2026

https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2026/11/12/viewpoint-sanitation-and-nutrition-not-vaccines-the-rejectionists-latest-false-substitute-for-staying-up-to-date-on-your-shots/ Has anyone ever heard matzoh ball soup referred to as Jewish penicillin? I’ve called it that my whole life. It was the first thing my mom made whenever I was sick, a pot chock full of veggies, herbs, and protein (and the matzoh balls!). It was good for my body and good for my soul, a warm generational hug in a bowl. Of course, we know soup isn’t actually penicillin, which is an antibiotic (and I was usually eating it for a cold or the flu, which are caused by viruses that antibiotics can’t treat anyway). That soup nourished me and comforted me while my body fought off whatever I had, but it couldn’t keep me from catching the next bug going around school.