Vaccines of my Childhood and Old Age

Today was the first time I felt lucky to be 75 (aside from the joke my friends and I make to consider the alternative). I received my first COVID-19 shot in the gym of the Levy Senior Center in my hometown of Evanston, Illinois. 65 years ago, I remember lining up in the school gym for the polio vaccine. It was strange to think about the similarities and differences of those experiences.

Polio epidemics struck in the warm summer months. In the early 1950s, outbreaks became more wide spread. I remember being forbidden to go to a swimming pool, the beach, or any place where kids typically congregate during summer vacations from school. When I was seven-years-old, in 1952, there were 58,000 cases and 3,200 deaths in the United States, so I understand why my parents were fearful. In addition, one of my older cousins was hospitalized with polio. I think my mother took me to visit her in her iron lung partly to cheer her up and partly as a cautionary tale. I never forgot the fear of trying to imagine her life in the confinement of that tube. While she made a full recovery, I cannot even guess what the emotional impact of that experience was on her life.