It’s nurses like that that give the whole industry a bad name. “Well, this ONE nurse didn’t know what she was talking about so CLEARLY no one in the field knows!” (Normally not generally a big deal unless, of course, you’re dealing with an anti-vaxxer who loves to generalize).
Re: polio survivors. My gym teacher in hs was a polio survivor who was wheelchair bound. I actually didn’t know that was the reason until he passed away and it was discussed in his obituary a few years ago. I absolutely agree that some are deluded into thinking that vaccines are irrelevant because they’ve never met anyone who has had these terrible diseases. (the irony, of course, is that that is BECAUSE of vaccines but I digress)
I was born in 1964. I never had shots at school, just at a regular pediatrician’s just like today. I don’t have that circle scar but it was pretty common to see, not notable at all.
I had an aunt and uncle with polio, both of whom had permanent limps as a result. The mommies-with-too-much-time-on-their-hands who are behind these movements are sadly unaware of how devastating polio was.
Smallpox vaccine was given by jabbing a needle to the skin several times (see below). Since it is a live related virus, it results in a minor lesion from the infection, which eventually leaves a small scar. It has not been routinely given in the US since 1972.
@ucbalumnus - that was a really interesting read; thank you!
I looked it up and DH and I both got the TdaP in 2011 at our booster shot visit. We also got the Hep-A and Hep-B series a few years back - as I put it: now we can eat in dirty restaurants and share needles! (j/k!!)
Yes, I got a smallpox vaccine at the school prior to entering first grade (no K then). We got an oral polio vaccine on sugar cubes which happened to take place at the high school but it was a community event. I have had Hep B series as an adult. I had measles and chicken pox as a child and rubella in college. I have never had mumps.
I had the small pox vaccine as a baby and I have a huge scar - almost the size of a quarter. I was always so self-conscious of it as a kid. Most of my friends had a scar that you could see if you looked for it, but mine was raised and indented and shiny. My mom said I kept scratching the scab off it. Why didn’t they put those shots in the back of the thigh or some other place that would not be so obvious?
I remember when most everyone had a visible smallpox vaccine scar, right in the place where you usually get a shot. Mine was hidden on the underside of my arm. Funny how that is gone now.
I think all hospital employees have to have the complete set of vaccinations. I would think that teachers, given their contact with youngsters, would have to show proof of vaccination. Some are saying that Disneyland employees should all be current on their vaccinations since so many children visit. I wonder if employers in service industries that serve children require proof of vaccination before they hire someone. Seems a reasonable thing.
Some vaccines are recommended for occupational reasons. Examples are rabies for veterinarians and other animal handlers, and hepatitis B for emergency workers. Sometimes, testing for immune response is done afterward, to check whether the person has seroconverted to resistant/immune status.
My D1, as a nursing student, had to show proof of getting the flu vaccine before she could start classes in late August. Ironically, that is too early to be getting the shot - it will likely not protect you through the whole winter.
Born in the mid-1950s. My small vaccine was given under my arm so it doesn’t show. I’m surprised more weren’t done like that. I got polio boosters at least once at school (overseas International/American school) that I remember. I think nearly everything else was in the doctors office inlcuding lots of fun ones like Yellow Fever, cholera, thyphoid and my least favorite gamma globulin which didn’t actually protect you against anything in particular.
I got my DPT as a baby, but got Whooping Cough at 28 thanks to a pocket of NH anti-vaxers. My sil, brother and I were all miserable for weeks. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. People who don’t vaccinated their kids against it should be forced to get sick themselve. I’ve actually wondered, that now that I’ve actually had the disease whether I’ll need a booster or if that took care of it.
Born in 1957- I don’t remember getting the small pox vaccination but I had a scar on my upper arm for years but it has since disappeared. I remember standing in line at school for the sugar cube polio vaccination and I remember being disapointed because it wasn’t that great of a taste. Every kind of measles, mumps and chicken pox I caught. My mom used to tell us how all three of us children had the measles. One kid passing it to the next with me coming down with it on Mother’s Day. She said she started to cry. I was 12 when I caught mumps (thanks neighbor boy) and it was awful.
When @romanigypsyeyes mentioned the polio vaccine being tested in Ann Arbor it triggered a memory. My (much older) sisters were both born in the early 1940’s and told me about being among the very first to receive the Salk polio vaccine in the early '50s. My family lived in Pittsburgh at the time and their story seems to be confirmed in this Wiki link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polio_vaccine They also recall the swimming pools and camps all being closed in the summers because polio was spreading through them like wildfire.
I remember getting all sorts of shots in my early childhood, including the smallpox vaccination which was absolutely required in order to enroll in school. Everyone my age had the scar, usually on our upper left arm and I don’t remember thinking there was anything unusual about it. I also remember lining up to get the polio booster on a sugar cube, again with all the other kids in my school. Thank God the parents of that era were smart enough to know that vaccines were life-saving, but then they also had lived through the terrible polio epidemics of the 30s and 40s and knew other parents who had children put in iron lungs and even lost children. They knew these diseases were not to be trifled with.
Personally, I had mumps, chicken pox and 2 kinds of measles and remember being very ill and missing a lot of school as a result. It’s criminal negligence to risk having your children experience that if you can avoid it.
