Vaccines: Why I Got The Shot

We baby-boomers might be the poster children for vaccines.

Let’s start with smallpox. I proudly wear a scar on my left arm from the smallpox vaccine. When’s the last time you heard about an outbreak of smallpox? Exactly.

The smallpox vaccine was usually part of the routine for children starting school in the 1950s. But not long before I turned 6, a girl in Watauga County had the vaccine and had some reaction that may or may not have been related to it. She ended up with a life-long limp but no other outcomes. The county suspended smallpox vaccines for awhile, and so I did not have the shot until my younger brother got his, three years later. I still have the scar, and I wear it proudly!

Because of this vaccine, my own children- now in their thirties-and those younger no longer even take this vaccine.

Measles. Remember the measles? If you are younger than- oh, let’s say 50- you might not even have heard of them. As far as I know children still get the MMR Vaccine ( My thirty-something kids did), but they don’t actually remember the measles. I do.

In the winter of 1956 , not long after my maternal grandmother died, measles hit my house. I was 3 1/2 and my sister was 7. We both got the measles. (Not sure if my little brother, barely 1, had it.) I remember the cool baths, which were meant to soothe the itching but didn’t. I remember the room where we slept with dim lights because bright lights might hurt our vision. I remember that our grandaddy came to help our mother, while our daddy worked.

And I remember my mother, the nurse, saying “If gamma globulin helped, I’m glad they got it, because they would have died without it.” Gamma globulin was the predecessor to the measles vaccine.

Polio. I remember standing in line to get that sugar cube with the polio vaccine. My husband had polio as a young child. Miraculously, he also stood in line to get that sugar cube. And decades later our children had that same polio vaccine squeezed into their mouths.

Tetanus. We all (I hope!) get that booster every ten years. My mother was a nurse. She often talked about the first autopsy she observed as a student nurse. It was a twelve year old girl who died of tetanus. Thanks to science and research, parents no longer have to worry about this happening to their child.

Flu. Yeah, I know there are people who get the vaccine and people who don’t and people who go back and forth. I get the shot. and I always get a pretty significant reaction- large, red, hot, sore spot that lasts at least a week. But I also have not had the flu in … forever! Last time I remember was about 40 years ago. So I will keep getting the flu shot. Without fail.

Which brings us to Covid-19. As soon as I was eligible (yes, I am 65+) I registered for a vaccine. I was kind of excited to get mine at Sears! But then they opened up spaces with the county health department so I ended up getting my first vaccine at the Education Building at the county fairgrounds. I’m good with that, even though there were no candy apples or cotton candy!

I have made more than a thousand masks. I wear one (or two, now) whenever I am out in public (which is rare). I use hand sanitizer. I keep a safe distance from people (and on the rare occasions when I am out in public, I am not beyond glaring at people who get too close!) But mostly I stay home.

And I got the shot! And I am excited to get my second dose in two weeks. Get yours. Please.