Whooping Cough, Diptheria, Tetanus, Smallpox

Whooping Cough is a disease that killed between 10,000 and 20,000 people each year before a vaccine was developed. I received that vaccine on June 14, 1947. I didn’t get Whooping Cough. I also didn’t get Diptheria and most importantly I didn’t get Smallpox or Polio.

I did catch measles and chicken pox . At the time no vaccine was available. Later in life I was plagued with three cases of Shingles (Herpes Zoster), which is caused by a reactivation of the Chicken Pox (varicella zoster virus) which lies dormant waiting for another chance. When the Shingrix vaccine was made available I leapt at the chance to get it.

Doctor Murphy

Even  with the passage of 69 years, I have vague memories of my visits to see Doctor Murphy in  Stamford, CT. It was an old Victorian home and I vaguely remember the fireplace had blue tiles. The place smelled of isopropyl alcohol. I mostly remember that if I was there I was going to get a shot. I was not a fan of shots.

Smallpox Vaccine

Smallpox was still a threat when I was born. There was an outbreak in New York City in March 1947. The city responded with a mass vaccination effort and it was declared contained by April 24, 1947.

In 1953 Doctor Murphy vaccinated me for Smallpox. I also have vague memories of this because it was so unusual. I seem to remember that he scraped my arm with a broken glass tube and applied the vaccine to the cut. It scabbed over and left a scar. Girls would have this done to there thigh since that would be less visible (in the 1950s).

The vaccine is no longer administered because Smallpox is considered to be eradicated. Just a few samples exist in some bioweapon labs in various countries.

Polio Pioneer

In 1954 I became a “Polio Pioneer”. I received my dose of the newly developed Salk vaccine. I got a card, a pin and a lollipop. What I didn’t get was Polio. Later I would get the Sabin oral vaccine which I believe was just a cup of sweet liquid.

In the Navy

I have to laugh at these folks in the military who are refusing to get the COVID vaccine. I try to imagine what would have happened when I was in the Navy and made a comment about “my body, my choice”.  Things have definitely changed.

We would would line up and shot with an jet injector. These horrible devices would shoot the vaccine into your arm under high pressure. If you flinched they could cut you like a razor. Usually one or two of us would take a few steps and faint.

The World Health Organization no longer recommends these horrid devices for mass vaccinations. There is a real danger that blood can contaminate the nozzle. I watched the corpsmen wipe it off, but these guys were my age. They spent some of their time shooting vaccine at each other like squirt guns.

I lost a friend to liver disease which he contracted as a Marine. I’m not antivaxx but I’m against this procedure.

COVID-19

Trust in science and get immunized. I know people who have died from this. Immunizations have risks, but you need to weigh the risk/value ratio. I didn’t die from Smallpox, Polio or Whooping Cough. So far I’ve dodged Omicron. I don’t plan to take any sheep de-wormer or other nonsense.

Be smart get Vaxxed, they don’t use the air gun.