Vaccine

Part 1

In 2022 after the great covid pandemic a new era of vaccine and medicine development emerged with cures for all kinds of historic ailments being investigated and with massive funding being developed and achieved.  Cancer soon became a thing of the past, followed by all auto immune diseases one by one, until eventually the people of earth feared no illness at all save one, the never-ending illness of aging.

Everson laboratories was a hive of activity as Jeff Everson looked up from his computer, he knew they were on the brink of solving the last medical ailment of aging.  Four six years he had working with his staff on developing a vaccine to the condition of aging, funded by the US government as a way to enable the human population to effectively live forever.  By treating the aging process as if it were a disease Everson had managed to develop a vaccine that combatted the aging process by stalling and in some cases even reversing the age of the cells that make up a living thing, they had started with simple organisms but after many successes had quickly moved on to more and more complex living creatures and had now had over two years' worth of successful data on over 100 apes.  While the goal had been to stop the aging process a bonus characteristic of the vaccine was that any adult over a certain age would physically regress back to an age when they were at their prime of health.  Jeff was adamant they were ready for human trials.

Tony had volunteered amongst millions of others to trial the fabled new live forever vaccine drug and was amazed that he had been selected.  He sat in the chair as he was told all of the potential risks by the doctors in the lab and afterwards signed the disclaimer and sat back to relax and begin his immortal life, a lab nurse cleaned part of his arm before pulling out a small syringe and injecting him with a small amount of clear fluid, afterwards he was told that was it.  Tony was shocked that the tiny amount of drug he had been given would make him live forever and he started to doubt the claims made by the lab.  Tony was escorted to his room where he would live for the next two months while they monitored his vital signs, it was basic but had everything he needed except a phone or internet access as he was not permitted any access to the outside world while the trial was ongoing.  After a six weeks Tony was having his physical exam and the he felt absolutely great, the doctor told him that he had stopped age regressing at an age of approximately 27, which he would now stay at forever, a few weeks later Tony was released but had to sign a form saying that he would not speak to anyone at all and was given enough money that he would not have to work another day for at least 50 years.  Tony purchased a cabin deep in a forest away from everyone else with just a radio for outside world contact and a satellite phone in case the lab needed him, this way he thought to himself that he would not have to face loads of cameras when the lab finally went public with its findings.

After the success of the trial with patient zero (Tony) the lab enlisted a further 100 volunteers (roughly a 50/50 split of men and women of various adult ages).  The trial was another resounding success and proved that any adult under their mid 20's would simply stop aging whereas any adult over would regress around 1 year every two days until they were mid to late 20's and then freeze in age.  The group was monitored for several more months before being paid and let go with signed disclosure not to speak to anyone about the trial.

On 1st May 2031 Everson laboratories made their trial findings public and were soon authorised by the US government for distribution, at first it was a little slow and the vaccines were very expensive but as word spread about how good the vaccine was and more and more people were suddenly rejuvenated from mid 50's to mid 20's while the vaccine became more and more affordable as production ramped up, the number of people taking the vaccine rocketed, at the same time other countries wanted it as well and began approving it and purchasing huge amounts.  It took around four years for the entire global population to be vaccinated against aging, which meant that new laws around population control had to be introduced, these were not popular with some, but most accepted the new laws as a compromise of being able to live forever.  Jeff Emerson stood in his lab and looked over while the nurse injected him, he was the last human on earth to be injected with his invention now that he was 100% sure that nothing bad could ever happen (he obviously had his doubts earlier on), and his lab was closing down.  Jeff and his wife had enough money that they could simply live on the interest for eternity and there was no demand for a vaccine lab anymore.