Vaccines are a miracle of science

I don’t feel good. Mommy, my head and eyes and throat hurt.

My forehead is hot? Don’t take my temperature! 103? Where’s my blankie? Again? 104? I need a blankie. Doctor? Hospital? Corning? It’s nighttime.

Are those nuns or angels? They’re nice. They bring me water and put a cold cloth on my head. My throat hurts. Jimmy’s in the other bed? Why are you whispering? I’m hot all over! I just want to sleep. Water. Cold cloth. Sleep.

Why is Daddy grabbing me and putting a blanket around me? I don’t feel good. I can’t swallow very good. Home? Pajamas? My bunk bed feels cool. 3 blankets. Dolly. Sleep. Bed for 2 weeks? In a dark room? No cartoons? No books? Just bed? Measles?

I was that confused, sick 5-year-old kindergartner.

The doctor thought Jimmy and I had whooping cough until we began breaking out on our feet and hands. It was the late 1950s. Measles vaccines weren’t available and it rampaged through our kindergarten class. Of the over 60 students in kindergarten that year, few escaped the “red measles.”

I don’t remember feeling worse any time during my K-12 education. Measles made mumps and chickenpox a walk in the park.

In those days all childhood diseases — mumps, chickenpox, measles, whooping cough — were common. Most of us were lucky and didn’t have lasting problems. However, my eye sight has always been poor, and maybe that’s part of it because of multiple days with high temperatures.

As a parent, I was grateful that my daughter didn’t have to experience most of those diseases except for chickenpox.

The miracle of science.

Preschool and day care weren’t common, so there was less exposure. Parents sent children to play with others who had chickenpox or mumps to expose them. Who knew that chickenpox predisposes us to shingles later in life?

Mom had shingles twice and it painfully lasted weeks. Antiviral medicine wasn’t available. I had shingles on my head and face. Antiviral medicine stopped the progression. The two-shot version of the shingles shot caused short-lived reactions. It was worth it.

In elementary school, we walked with a partner to the Villisca High School for a polio vaccine. Parents didn’t question the reason and were grateful. Friends or family members had been confined to an iron-lung and might have suffered lifelong crippling results. Their children would not.

The miracle of science.

Questioning vaccines is foreign to me. If available, I gladly receive it. I didn’t worry about giving a vaccine to my only child or encouraging her to do the same for my only grandchild. It was available. Take it.

I understood COVID similarly. I celebrated access to the vaccine after friends were infected and one died before vaccine was available. With every booster, I think “Shoot me up, Doc.” Knock on wood. I haven’t tested positive or had COVID. The impact of long COVID is yet determined.

When it comes to health decisions, trust doctors and medical science. Whispering in my ear is the memory of a 5-year-old reminding me of the miracle of science and vaccines.

She’s been through some things and thanks the miracle of science.

Pat Shipley lives in Nodaway.