Some time early in my elementary school years, our school installed a “Public Address System.” The new PA System enabled the principal to make announcements each morning. Sometimes (I’ve forgotten how often) there would also be announcements from kids in individual classrooms. The announcement that I remember, which was made occasionally, was the statement that a member of a particular class had been diagnosed with polio, and that the class hoped that he or she would soon recover.
Some children recovered and came back to school. Others didn’t recover, or came back much later, wearing a brace or using a crutch, after a long stay in the hospital. I remember one boy whose arm didn’t grow after this illness. I remember one girl whose legs were different lengths, and how she was in a short body-cast for months, while still attending school. In retrospect, during their long absence, these kids must have been in some sort of physical therapy, but in the classrooms, we didn’t know any details.
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| Jonas Salk, 1914-1995 |
Above all, I remember the joy with which everyone welcomed polio vaccine, and the gratitude towards the researchers who had developed this miracle.
As a preschool child, I had mumps, measles, and chickenpox. I was lucky and recovered quickly. Other kids didn’t have it so good. Vaccines meant no one had to have this experience. My mother remembered being sick with whooping cough and diphtheria as a child, and always expressed her relief at having been able to vaccinate us.
I’m thinking about this now, as our brilliant leaders are trashing public health requirements for vaccines. They have forgotten what it was like to have kids in your schoolroom disappear for weeks or for months or forever. They have forgotten my mother’s gratitude, and those other mothers’ losses. They have forgotten those crutches and body casts. We’re headed again for tragedy.
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| AI Summary of Polio Vaccine Policy |
POSTSCRIPT: The World Health Organization website includes a detailed history of vaccines throughout history: “A Brief History of Vaccines.”
Blog post © 2025 mae sander
16 comments:
It is sad our country is going back in time, instead of a healthier future. Take care, enjoy your day and happy weekend.
Oui c'est incroyable à quelle vitesse un pays peut sombrer dans l'obscurantisme et la bêtise, et les ravages que ce la produit. Pour passer à un sujet plus léger j'ai pris aujourd'hui une photo en pensant à vous j'ai voulu,vous l'envoyer mais je n'ai pas votre mail
I don't remember the days of polio but I grew up with it being an ominous word as the cultural memory was still there. Vaccinations are one of the things I have felt proud about in science and progress. It is sad to see that rigourous scientific evidence is no longer seen as something to listen to and respect in the American government. Though our Australian govt still has a good vaccine program, there are groups who are undermining the public's confidence in vaccines so we are vulnerable here too.
I remember a boy in school who had polio and needed crutches because his legs were so badly damaged. The problem is that there is a generation of people who don't remember any of these diseases being so bad, and they don't understand vaccines. Of course there is risk with any vaccine (people not vaccinated could get polio through changing a diaper of a vaccinated infant if they didn't wash their hands), but the risk is much much smaller than getting sick or getting any injuries from a vaccine. Even back at the time of American revolution there was the down home vaccine, where people would scratch their skin with a needle that was infected with virus from someone with small pox. And now we don't have to think about small pox. And it should be that way with polio, measles and other diseases. Sorry to go on the soapbox, since you probably agree with me, but I just had to say it anyhow. hugs-Erika
I remember the days of getting this. The next door neighbor girl died of polio, before the vaccine, I think, but very close. I remember everyone was pretty worried. This whole vaccine thing freaks me out. they are so important.
I do remember polio before vaccine. My Mom was a nurse and she told us about the iron lungs that kids would be in for months at a time and and sometimes for life if their lungs were paralyzed. I don't think this "regime" has forgotten, they just don't care. Parents who follow the "thing" and his butt buddies haven't ever seen the possible results of measles, mumps, small pox, hooping cough and other diseases that have been wiped out due to vaccines. When my sister had the measles it settled in her right ear and she was deaf in that ear the rest of her life. People think that mumps are just the swelling of the jaw. That is not true. It can effect the testicle, overis, pancreas inflammation meningitis (brain/spinal cord inflammation), encephalitis (brain inflammation), and even permanent deafness or infertility. I mean seriously what is the "thing" and the worm eating brain asshole thinking? Oh I forgot they don't think and they don't care. Omgosh, Mae, sorry for going off but this upsets me so much.
I had a childhood friend who succumbed to polio. These ongoing challenges to vaccine efficacy are very difficult to believe, although Trump and RFK, Jr made no secrets of their plans during the campaign. The world shakes its head. I returned from Colombia yesterday, where one young biologist asked me, “Why did the USA elect a madman - un hombre loco?” If you know the answer, please tell me. And by the way, if any young friends of yours are having a difficult pregnancy, be sure to tell them to suffer and not take Tylenol! If you could see the number of medical professionals moving to Canada it would stagger you.
I don't remember anyone I knew having polio, but I think it was over by the time I was born.
sad days indeed Mae - to throw away the very things that will prevent such terrible diseases. My dad had polio as a baby, was in a caliper his entire life and died at 55. As i always say - he would have killed for a vaccine! Let's hope better things are in the future...cheers and merry festives
sherry
I remember getting the sugar cube with the polio vaccine at school.
Even in blue states less people are getting vaccinated. We are undoing so much good that vaccines have done for us all these years. I remember getting all those childhood diseases and don't wish that on amy child. Terrible.
It's so sad how people are feeling about vaccines these days. They save so many lives.
It's absurd -- how much harm they are doing by rolling back vaccines. It's a stunning travesty.
Like you, I had some of the "childhood illnesses" like chicken pox, measles and rubella. I sure was glad that my daughter was able to get the vaccine. I remember the polio vaccinations at my school, on the sugar cube. I still remember the marketing slogan, "the vaccination is sweet, polio is terrible" - I never forgot that. The state of health recommendations nowadays makes me mad and I wonder how we got here. Were the people who voted for this not listening before the election? I guess so. Or they didn't care. Or don't think for themselves. Probably all of the above.
My uncle and a friend in school both had polio. My uncle lost the use of his eye and was weak on one side of his body for his whole life. My friend had to walk with crutches his whole life. My mother had diphtheria as a young child and she had heart damage as a result. It saddens me to think that people are not getting a simple vaccine that can stop all this from happening.
i have heard about polio, but know very little about the disease. it was not around when i was growing up and i never knew anyone who had it!! scary, none-the-less!!!
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