[goat granny]

I grew up before the Polio vaccine and it was a big deal to every parent...Life in an iron lung was not unheard of...Crippling and death were also the result...I remember my mother saying no to several things I wanted to do as a kid....It was “no its polio season” Glad my kids were of an age to get the Salk vaccine....although you also got the tetanus shot, that even as an adult needs to have a booster every 5 years....When I stepped on an old nail on the farm, I needed the booster......(as an adult)

[Jedidah]

I share your memories.

Those who have grown up in the age of vaccines and antibiotics perhaps don’t realize how ungrateful they seem when they forego the blessing modern medicine has offered them and their children.

We oldsters remember when our entire communities lined up to be vaccinated against polio. We remember the real fear and those among us who fell to the virus.

Just this week I was reading old newspaper obits from the 1930s as part of some community history research. It’s amazing how often even young people died from appendicitis, scarlet fever, measles, diptheria, illnesses that post-WWII drugs now cure routinely.

Shame on us when we forget to count our blessings.