Mark Hamill Pokes Fun at the Anti-Vax Crowd in a Playful 1978 Star Wars Vaccination Advertisement

Conservative media went doolally this week when the loveable Muppets of Sesame Street said they were getting vaccinated against COVID and urged their young viewers to do the same. This was met with cries that the characters were akin to the Nazis, that they’d be responsible for the mass deaths to follow, and the assertion from Arizona state senator Wendy Rogers that “Big Bird is a communist“.

But Sesame Street has a long history of promoting public health efforts over the decades, along with many other popular children’s characters. One specific image that generated discussion yesterday showed Star Wars‘ R2D2 and C-3PO in a 1978 poster asking parents if their children are fully immunized. Mark Hamill saw the post and responded with a deadpan: