Disturbing photo but makes an important point...

[MoonRiver]

?1631924580

[Blue Owl]

1. K&R

[Irish_Dem]

2. Many people don't remember the serious, contagious diseases.

Some docs have never seen them either.

The older folks keep trying to tell folks what is was like before vaccines, but of course we don't know what we are talking about in their minds.

[EYESORE 9001]

3. I caught mumps at age 17

I was in danger of being rendered sterile. As it happened, I developed pancreatitis and was incredibly sick for 10 days. If a vaccine was available then, I would have done almost anything to get it.

[Irish_Dem]

5. Yes the illness were life threatening and caused permanent damage in some cases.

I remember how very ill I was with the mumps, measles and chicken box.

I saw people who were crippled from polio.

Parents were thrilled to get their children vaccinated against these illness.

Oh yes I remember very clearly about older boys getting mumps.
They became very ill and faced possible becoming infertile.

[ChazInAz]

9. I had every single one of those diseases.

Including polio, which gave me a lifetime of weakness.
Mumps and measles damaged my hearing, and left me with the sound of cicadas always ringing in my ears. Still have nightmares of strangling from whooping cough. Got some interesting scars from chicken pox.
So: yes, my kids got vaccinated for everything. Maybe even Dengue Fever...it's been a while.

[wnylib]

17. I had all of them, too, except polio.

Fortunately, I did not have side effects, except for two chicken pox marks that are barely visible today.

Back then, without a vaccine, parents concluded that chicken pox, measles, and mumps were inevitable. They expected and even wanted their children to get them around age 5 in order to develop immunity because of the potential for sterility if they got them as teens or adults. For girls, they wanted them to develop immunity to measles, especially rubella, as children because they could cause birth defects if a pregnant woman was infected.

I can remember that, if people had children with measles, they avoided pregnant women, or asked the women if they had ever had measles because they feared infecting them.

The only vaccines that were available and required before starting school were diptheria, smallpox, and a third one that I don't remember right now. I was in grade school when the Sabin polio vaccine was distributed in sugar cubes. Everyone I knew eagerly got theirs.

My mother was part of a door to door campaign to collect contributions for the March of Dimes.

When I was a child, I did not know anyone who had polio. But as an adult, I encountered people who had had it. One woman that I worked with described what it was like to be in an iron lung as a child.

I don't understand why we give so little attention to the lasting side effects of covid. We only focus on the deaths. There were far fewer deaths from polio than there are from covid, yet everyone feared the crippling effects of polio. We should likewise today fear the effects of covid.

[Hekate]

35. The standard was DPT and smallpox. ...

The only vaccines that were available and required before starting school were diptheria, smallpox, and a third one that I don't remember right now.

The DPT shot was Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus. Their old names were Membranous Croup (a membrane grew across the windpipe), Whooping Cough, and Lockjaw.

[wnylib]

39. Those sound right. Thanks for

reminding me of what they were.

[yellowdogintexas]

42. Diphtheria, whooping cough and Tetanus in a combo vax & smallpox were IT

until 1954 & the Salk Vaccine.

I had all the diseases and was very sick. Especially with the measles; big fever and miserable for days. Sickest I remember being as a kid. I had to go a whole week without reading! Man was I bored

It is apparently the most contagious of the "childhood diseases". I went to a birthday party on Saturday, on Monday one of the other kids broke out and by Friday all the rest of us had measles.

Our doctor gave us typhoid vax every other year. We lived out in the country and had a well. That well water comes from somewhere and in KY you don't know what's upstream from you; some sinkhole way upstream could have dead animals, runoff ; lots of nasties (basically if you sliced KY it would look a lot like swiss cheese). So we had typhoid shots.

[wnylib]

45. I was so young when I had measles

that I barely remember it. I have a vague memory of sore eyes and the blinds in my room being closed because my eyes could not tolerate bright sunlight.

I remember chicken pox a little better. Was told to stop scratching myself or I would have scars. Apparently l kept scratching my face because I have a pock mark on the tip of my nose and another one above one eyebrow. Both pock marks are very slight depressions, hardly noticeable.

I remember the morning when my mother realized that I had mumps. I didn't feel well and refused breakfast. My neck was swollen and when she felt the gland area with her fingers, I said it hurt and pulled away from her. She looked at my father and they both said at once, "Mumps."

They were like rites of passage that were expected but not alarming. Bed rest, fluids, aspirin.

I've no idea where I caught any of the "childhood" diseases. I had 3 siblings and umpteen cousins since both parents had large extended families.

[Irish_Dem]

19. Oh no, you really went through a lot, with lifetime results.

I remember how sick I was with the measles, mumps, chicken pox.

Didn't have polio or whooping cough.

I did have severe rheumatic fever and it damaged my heart.

Right, I got my child vaccinated for everything.

Older people used to be respected, and the younger generation heeded warnings.
Not today.

But they would be much better off if they listened to us about what life is like without vaccines.

[EYESORE 9001]

15. I can laugh about it now...

While in the throes of illness with mumps, I was lying on the living room sofa, hoping for recovery or merciful death - I was ready for either one. I had been vomiting so violently that the whites of my eyes were blood-red. I hadn’t shaved in a week and coupled with swollen glands, my face resembled a puffer fish on full alert. My voice was raspy from regurgitated stomach acid. I hadn’t washed my longish hair in several days.

The doorbell rang and I tried to tell them to go away, but a feeble croak was all that I could muster. It rang again and I snapped. I dragged my feeble body from the couch to greet two Jehovah’s Witlesses - one roughly 40 years old, the other close to my age (17). I unloaded on them, releasing a tirade of righteous fury, and I could see from their expressions that they pondered whether the devil had gotten ahold of me. The younger fellow kept walking backward in retreat until he fell off the porch into my mother’s rose bushes - the one with 1/2” thorns. I left it to the older proselytizer to extract his protege, turned on my heels, went inside, and returned to my misery on the couch.

Come to think of it, I did manage to work up a chuckle about it, even then.

[Irish_Dem]

21. Hopefully they made a note for future reference to avoid your house, especially the wicked rose bush

At least you had a small, amusing break from mumps misery.

[EYESORE 9001]

29. My mother told me years later

That JWs never came knocking again.

[Irish_Dem]

30. Yep. You had JW yellow danger tape around your house perimeter.

[TexasBushwhacker]

40. Getting "childhood" illnesses as a teen or adult is almost always bad

I had red measles, German measles and chicken pox as a child. A friend of mine had a 17 year old daughter that got chicken pox. She was miserable. She got the blisters everywhere, including inside her mouth and rectum.

[ShazzieB]

47. My husband somehow avoided catching chickenpox as a child.

I got it in first grade, but he never did. When our daughter got it (it was going around her daycare), he caught it from her.

She was itchy and cranky for a few days, and that was about it. I had to keep her home for a week, because daycare wouldn't let her come back until everything was scabbed over, but she was barely sick at all.

He was the sickest I had ever seen him up until that point. (I've seen him sicker since then, but only a couple of times.) He missed a week of work because he was literally incapable of getting out of bed.

The chickenpox vaccine came out a few years later, too late for either of them.

[Dale in Laurel MD]

26. I had all but polio.

The doctor later told my parents that I had the worst case of measles that he had ever seen (and he would have been about 60 then) in which the patient survived.

In fact, we learned years later that he had my death certificate filled out on his desk, with only the date and time left blank, because he was sure I couldn't make it.

[Irish_Dem]

27. Good God. Some reporter should get us in a panel where we can tell these stories.

That would be an excellent strategy for marking the vaccine I think.

[BComplex]

31. I caught measles at at 42 and almost died.

I'd been vaccinated as a kid, but you don't mess with some of these diseases.

[LeftInTX]

38. Yikes!

[LeftInTX]

37. I think that was why they encouraged everyone to "catch those diseases before age 6"

My sister in law never caught chicken pox and she was worried for years. They warned her that an adult case would be bad. But eventually a titer proved she must have had an asymptomatic case. (Lucky her)

This was all before immunizations were available.

[rurallib]

4. When talking to folks about polio I get really animated

The scare of getting polio is still real to me 60+ years later.
Covid is just as scary.

[MontanaMama]

7. My mother had polio.

She had to learn to walk again at the age of 4. She has mobility problems later in her life due to the disease. I remember lining up at school for the pink sugar cube. We all took it and nobody complained. I seriously don’t even think parents batted an eye…it was just such a relief to get kids protected from a disease like polio. How far we’ve fallen.

[Irish_Dem]

22. How can young people listen to these stories and refuse vaccinations.

It just boggles my mind.

[yellowdogintexas]

43. our little county managed a massive and highly successful vaccination project

to get every school kid vaccinated. We were bussed in to the county hospital, got our shots, then we were taken to the movies (all cartoons!) for an hour, which I suspect was to make sure we had no bad reactions. Then we were bussed back to our school.
It was an amazing effort!

When it came time for our boosters, we could go to the health dept or our own dr to get them.

[paleotn]

14. This! Those of us lucky enough to have been raised by parents....

from the pre-vaccine, pre-penicillin world were taught exactly WHY such things are extremely important. I lost an aunt to polio. She was 5. 3 years older than my mom. Growing up, complaining and raising silly questions about such things was unheard of simply because our parents knew full well what that pre world looked like. It was damn ugly.

[Irish_Dem]

23. My mother knew first hand as she was a nurse during the polio epidemic.

My great aunt was a nurse during the 1918 flu epidemic.

Their stories made an impression on me.

And of course my mother knew the value of vaccinations.

As a side note my daughter is a nurse practitioner during the Covid epidemic.

[lambchopp59]

6. Photo of the Bidens with Major

Dawned on me that Major has a better grasp on mask wearing and vaccinations than most of the pandemic spreading nuts these days:
Major wouldn't hawk conspiracy garbage about the vaccine. He wouldn't have any problem with Jill and guests wearing masks indoors. He'd just want to go for a walk. Now. Whether he needed to "go" or not. I'd rather deal with that any day.

[NoMoreRepugs]

8. I've said it many different ways but masks and Covid have made it so

plain how fractured our country is and how utterly stupid, or to be more kind - how easily some are influenced, that moving forward as a nation seems impossible to me. Add into the mix hundreds of millions of weapons and billions of rounds of ammunition and you have the raw materials for a total disaster.

[NJCher]

11. yes, and

when you look at other countries, one realizes it is a uniquely American problem.

You summed it up well, esp'ly with your last sentence.

But then, what other country has an entire political party devoted to protecting the firearms industry when children are tragically killed in mass shootings on a regular basis? What kind of people can allow this?

Organized sociopaths, that's who. And that is what is unique about America: our sociopaths are organized.

[NoMoreRepugs]

16. Organized sociopaths. Well said.

[Irish_Dem]

25. They're not a political party, they are a crime family of ruthless sociopaths.

They will stop at nothing in the quest for power, status, control and wealth.

[NJCher]

33. well, I agree

but they get away with what they get away with because they call themselves a political party.

[Irish_Dem]

34. Exactly. The best sociopaths don't break the law, they make it.

Unlimited wealth, power, control, status. And above the law.

It is a con artist dream come true.

[paleotn]

10. My response to the anti-maskers....

OK, next time you're scheduled for surgery, opt for the unmasked surgical team. They may give you a discount.

[Siwsan]

12. What masks DO prevent

Me from touching my face when I'm out shopping, handling things that might have viral spread. My county isn't even 50% vaccinated. It's stalled at about 44%. So, there are a whole lot of people out there who might be early stage, thinking they have a cold, or are asymptomatic and aren't following any precautions.

It's like I told someone, the other day. The mask provides me with a feeling of security. I'll probably be wearing one for a long time, when I'm in stores. He finally shrugged his shoulders and said 'Well, we haven't heard of many people having colds or flu, so maybe it's not a bad idea.'

[malaise]

13. Get thee to the greatest page for visibility

[sop]

18. A year ago, when scientists were racing to develop a Covid-19 vaccine during the height of the

pandemic, I actually believed every single American would rush out to receive it. I thought the only obstacle to a 100% vaccination rate in this country would be having enough doses to go around, and the means to quickly distribute the vaccine. Christ, was I was wrong.

Who could have ever imagined so many people would stupidly refuse a vaccine that would save their lives? The last six months have demonstrated just how weak-minded and gullible millions of Americans are, and how evil many in the Republican party can be. It boggles the mind.

[grantcart]

20. The Small Pox vaccine was 100% effective in that eliminated

Reserve populations of the virus, which has no animal host, and resulted in a 100% elimination of the disease which had killed more than 400 million since its beginning.

I pull up this picture a couple of times a week to show people who are hesitant.

Yes vaccines were mandatory and we had vaccine passports. Worldwide eradication was conducted by W.H.O.

[ancianita]

24. Back to this, over and over, because of the structurally manufactured stupid, fearful 30%

that we must drag along, kicking and screaming, every generation. It's not even their fault. A corporate captured country structures society and business to use and dispose of humans, exactly as is most profitable.




Biden is right. We 70% must stop them from dragging us back, or other more direct climate disasters will kill us all.

[Patton French]

28. An extremely vivid point

It can't be made enough

[halfulglas]

32. Ah, memories!

I had just about everything except mumps including scarlet fever as a toddler for which I was hospitalized. I'm one of 6 kids and my older brother also had rheumatic fever. Two cousins were lucky and recovered from nonparalytic polio, but it struck terror into the family and yes, we lined up for the Salk shots in school when they were available. But we knew the dangers of polio and it struck fear into the hearts of everyone. Not virus or germ based, but my mother had severe postpartum depressions after several of her pregnancies and many science doubting relatives at the time were impatient with her and told her to "get over it" and "take care of her responsibilities." When I learned about this later as an adult, it filled in a few things I didn't understand at the time, but I realized how much she must have gone through because it was so misunderstood at that time. We also endured the almost automatic tonsil removal 2 kids at a time because since they didn't know what good they did the tonsils were removed after practically the first sore throat. Amazing, ice cream and popsicles without it being a special occasion! That practice endured until the early 70s and general surgeons lost a dependable stream of income.

In so many ways, though, we knew about the sickness of those "childhood" diseases but unless the sequalae touched someone we knew personally, we were ignorant of them because in the 50s so much tragedy was hidden away. Anyway in the 60s in my early 20s I worked in a small hospital and some of the residents often sat with us for lunch in the cafeteria (because we weren't bad-looking young ladies) and the conversation came up among several of the residents of the new measles vaccine and how effective it was looking. I made a flippant remark about it ruining days off from school for kids. Well, I was educated by one of the residents about measles encephalitis, blindness, brain damage, etc. and I was amazed at what I didn't know. Unfortunately a child left with severe needs disappeared from the social scene until they were well enough to go back to school with whatever accommodation they later needed like hearing aids or thick glasses, etc, if they were ever mainstreamed again. A few sick days off from school meant lying on the living room sofa during the day where my mom could keep an eye on my needs and wants and brought me soup and whatever. My kids got every shot recommended for them. Viva science!!

I say this now because it seems like a good portion of not only this country, but word-wide, is going backward. Putting "rights" and "freedom" before a healthy population. If so, what we're facing may be only the beginning. We are not only facing epidemics of not yet developed microbes, but the old ones will strike back and strike hard, and they aren't being hidden anymore.

[SouthernLiberal]

46. I remember as well

My first vaccine was for smallpox, which I got at my pediatrician's office. Because I was a girl, I got my dose not on my arm like my brothers, but on my upper thigh, where it wouldn't be seen. (The doctor was not good at predicting bathing suit styles.)

I got polio vaccine when I started grade school. There was certainly no question about me getting it when they gave it to us at school.

Measles, mumps and chicken pox... well, those I just got. I think I got them from my older brother, who probably picked them up at school. Parents at the time really wanted their children to get those diseases as young as possible.

I got tetanus vaccine as the result of a wound. My younger sister got vaccinated for everything except chicken pox. She was very, very sick, with chicken pox down her throat and in every other orifice. Her doctor insisted, because if she was that bad with chicken pox, he did not want to know how bad measles would be for her.

Apparently, there was no whooping cough vaccine when I was small. I remember hearing another kid coughing, in a way that sounded to my mother as the dreaded whooping cough. She all but dragged me upstairs to out apartment, and watched me like a hawk for weeks. I recall that so clearly, because it was the first time I ever saw my mother afraid.

It certainly does seem that too few people understand what life was like before all of these vaccines. Parents when I was a kid didn't want their children to get measles, for example, because it wasn't dangerous, but because it got more and more dangerous as you got older.

[halfulglas]

50. Before COVID hit, those "measles parties" thrown by young suburban women for their kids

To get it over with drove me nuts. Of course the current situation of antivaxers takes it to a new level. Why worry. It's not serious in kids. Like a cold.

[BoycottTimHortons]

36. Being several generations removed

From the widespread impact of severe illnesses before they were eradicated by vaccines is a big part of why people take their importance and efficacy for granted, which opens the door for fearmongering about vaccines.

[AZLD4Candidate]

41. Logic!

[yellowdogintexas]

44. When I talk to people who are opposed to vaccination, I tell them to go

read The Dollmaker. The mother of a gravely ill child is trying to get her child to the doctor. On horseback. In winter. In the Appalachian mountains. The child starts to suffocate and the mom has to puncture the membrane in the back of her throat so she can breathe. Right there on the mountain in the sleet.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

48. Even non-Rs seem to be forgetting that bit about, "My mask protects you,

your mask protects me." Masks do give some protection to the wearer, but more so the protection is for others.

[Ms. Toad]

49. Too bad they felt compelled to include junk science

As the last paragraph. It makes me suspect the integrity of the rest.

[thesquanderer]

52. What's the junk science?

What they say there is incomplete, but I wouldn't call it junk.

It's incomplete because some masks (e.g. N95) do also substantially protect the wearer; and even many lesser masks can provide at least some protection. But the majority of masks primarily serve to stop the spread to others.

No?

[Ms. Toad]

53. That masks protect others.

That junk science was spread when politicians were reluctant to issue mask mandates and were calling on our altruism to mask up.

All masks provide some protection for the wearer, and two-layer, tight weave, well-fitted masks provide nearly as much protection as the J&J vaccine (when properly worn, of course). N95 masks provide protection equivalent to the vaccine (when properly worn, of course)

The majority of masks serve to stop the spread to BOTH the wearer and others, and provide slightly more protection to others.

The nonsense that masks are to protect others - which far too many on DU don't care about right now, since the "others" are perceived to be unvaccinated by choice - provides a convenient excuse not to wear masks - which are an essential tool in curbing COVID.

[Bucky]

51. Despite being a meme, this is accurate information, (Snopes fact-checked it)

You can get more deets on Snopes about it

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/one-vaccinated-one-not-smallpox/