Vaccine Nation 0

Afterthought:

I had a chance discussion yesterday with one of my neighbors while we were picking up our mail.

Both of us remember images on the telly vision of children in iron lungs because of polio. Both of us had childhood diseases–chicken pox, measles (I didn’t have mumps when I was a kid, but my parents did while I was a kid and it was scary for this kid–they were both sick in bed together being miserable)–for which there are now vaccines. Both of us remember the sense of relief when the Salk and Sabin vaccines became available. Both of us remember when vaccine records (AKA “vaccine passports”) were routine things. (I don’t know if my neighbor has kids, but I certainly remember keeping my kids’ “vaccine passports” up-to-date so they could attend school.)

My friend mentioned to my neighbor that I had had a reaction to my COVID booster (I’ll take the reaction over COVID seven days a week and twice on Sundays). He told me that a long-time friend of his had refused to get vaccinated (“He woudln’t get the shot”) and had recently passed away from COVID and that said friend’s wife, who had also refused to get vaccinated, had fallen ill, but had recovered.

I know nothing about my neighbor’s political leanings, and I did not ask.

But we agreed that a sizable portion of our polity has eschewed the concept of the common good.