Vaccines on My Mind

Vaccines are on my mind. Or, rather, the vaccine-deniers are on my mind. I have been appalled by RFK Jr. ever since he opened his mouth to run for president. (I had the good fortune not to have noticed him before then.) I have been appalled by vaccine-deniers since I first heard of them a few decades ago.

Most people do not have the associations with public health that I do because most people did not have a microbiologist for a father. My father worked for the North Dakota Public Health Service his entire career. Hired out of college, they sent him to the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor for his master’s degree. After, he went to work in the lab in Grand Forks, my hometown, and eventually ran it. Ultimately, he took over as director of the public health services at the state offices in Bismarck until his retirement. He worked in public health for 45 years.

His work had a big effect on me. First of all, as you might suspect, hygiene and food safety got a prominent spot in our household. No hands had better go unwashed! His lab tested all the milk products from regional dairies. The technicians would sample a tablespoon or so of milk, cream, ice cream, etc. from every batch. They sent the remainder home with Dad because he had a big family to feed, so we always had lots of dairy products. We also got pets from the lab: white mice.

Dad’s lab ran the tests on all animals in North Dakota suspected of having rabies, which is done using the animals’ brains. Whenever someone – usually farmers or hunters – ran across a potentially rabid creature, they would send the head to the lab by special courier. It could be any time of the day or night. Dad would get a call and go retrieve the specimen.

If it came at night or over a weekend, he’d store the package in the extra refrigerator in our basement. We were all accustomed to having specimens in the fridge from time to time. Dad used this to his advantage. When my grandmother sent homemade goodies that he wanted to save from the depredations of his large family, he’d wrap them up to look like specimens and put them in the basement. “Don’t open that box, it’s a head,” he’d tell us.

Okay, by late elementary school or high school, we’d grown pretty confident these packages were not actually heads … but not sure enough to risk opening them. Many a powdered sugar doughnut escaped early consumption because of this. Once the package was open, he kept it locked in his gun closet, which he could have done in the first place. I think he just enjoyed teasing us.

Polio was raging in my early childhood. I remember going with my neighbor Susan to whirlpool treatments for her withered leg. I’m sure it was actually physical therapy, but at 6 or so we didn’t know that. I suppose I was there was to entertain Susan while she sat in what looked like a horse trough of swirling water for her treatments. We had fun being silly together. I remember wishing I could get in the metal tank, too. It looked like fun.

When the polio vaccine came out, my dad had early access because of his job. One Sunday afternoon, he and my mother took the little kids — I was the oldest little kid — to visit their friends, the Culmers. Dr. Culmer and his wife Vangie played bridge with my parents while us kids goofed around. The adults, of course, drank as they whiled away the afternoon. To the kids’ great surprise, when the card game and libations were done, my dad collected us and Dr. Culmer gave us all polio shots!

I remember running away and being dragged back, probably kicking and screaming. There’s nothing like getting a jab from a slightly inebriated family friend when you’re not expecting it! But, really, we were probably some of the luckiest kids in town because we got protection from polio very early on.

Measles vaccines came along later. In my day, everyone got the measles. It was miserable and inconvenient for most people, but life-altering for others. Remember Helen Keller? Blind, deaf, and mute because of measles as an infant. Some kids were maimed by the disease, some died. My three older brothers had measles at the same time. While Mother was tending to them and running our household, I apparently contracted a mild case that no one noticed. I don’t remember having the measles, but everyone said I must have. In today’s world, where measles is again a danger, I really hope I did.

I do remember having chickenpox. I was eleven. I got them on Easter weekend, and my grandmother died the same day. And I remember when my son got them. He was in high school, so only 20 or so years ago. Little Tori got them from Nick. We all have a few chickenpox scars and I’ve been lucky enough to get shingles — a direct result of having had chickenpox — as well.

Now days, no child, in America at least, need ever contract polio, or measles, or mumps, or rubella, or whooping cough, or chickenpox again. No child need contract HPV, which causes cervical cancer and throat cancer, among others. My husband had HPV throat cancer in 2016. He survived after an excruciating treatment regime that you really want to avoid!

We did it. We found a way to save so much misery and loss in our world through science. And my dad was one of those scientists. I’m proud of him and happy for the safety of future generations.

But wait! The anti-vaxxers are refusing to get their kids protected. And by doing this, they are threatening the protections that we have built into our society. They are lying about vaccines and the vaccination process to scare people away from protecting everyone through childhood vaccination programs. My father is rolling over in his grave. And to make it worse, some people in my own family are anti-vaxxers who children have never been protected. I pray it doesn’t happen, but those kids, like all the other unprotecteds, are at risk of illness, disability, and death.

What has our world come to that the government agencies tasked with the health and welfare of our people walk away from proven protections? It is worse than a shame. It is a crime.

 Ciao