I’m glad your condition wasn’t worse. Those were chilling times, with closed swimming pools and kids kept indoors
I was born just after the vaccine became available. At the other end, I turned 18 just before they ended the draft. So I should count my blessings for fortunate timing
I was 6 years old living at Ft Walton Beach, FL. (Eglin AFB) We lived at 608 Bay St. I remember it well. My next door neighbor, the lady of the house, was in an iron lung. She would see us in her mirror above her head as she lay on her back, and we would talk to her.
It was terrifying. Kids would get the “flu” or a cold, and then paralysis set in. Some young adults, like my neighbor were also stricken.
We got the shot. And then another sometime later. My sister and I never got polio, thanks to Dr Salk.
Years later, a genetic engineer of some repute, explained that when they put the dead virus in the egg to make the vaccine, they would centrifuge it and thus created the first genetic accident. He said that SV40 was the same size as the desired polio virus, and was included with the now harmless polio (that we would create antibodies for) and we all got a dose of it as well.
from wikipedia:
SV40 has been widely studied as a model eukaryotic virus, leading to many early discoveries in eukaryotic DNA replication and transcription. The discovery of SV40 revealed that between 1955 and 1963 around 90% of children and 60% of adults in the U.S. were inoculated with SV40-contaminated polio vaccines.
the problem is that it is a latent virus....plants itself in the spinal column and can be activated (why?) many years later....he said....about the time we are all 70....right about now....there is/was no way to know if what he said is true.
So, I don’t know if its true....but this is why so many are afraid of vaccines. we don’t know what we don’t know.
and we may not find out until its too late.
people can approach this issue from their own understanding and beliefs. the children are not making the decision. as a parent, its your job to weigh the risks and say yes or no....
now, apparently, only “yes” is allowed.
Yes, I consider myself lucky during the polio outbreak. It just affected my back but a friend of mine, same age, ended up with shriveled legs and crutches. I had to go through 12 years of painful weekly therapy to keep my back in shape, and then got got drafted at age 19 in 1970 but got a 4F because of my back.
It’s interesting that the the designation of 4F (meaning missing 4 front teeth) started during the Civil War during the 1860s because you had to have teeth to tear off the the end of a black powder paper cartridge before loading your musket or rifle. No teeth and you couldn’t load your gun, so you got a 4F. Lot of men with no teeth back then.