Boomers Know
Covid took America by surprise. I think we thought that the “age of disease” was past. In fact, most Americans today believe that cancer will soon be “cured” (in some way or other). I hope they’re right. But folks of my generation, the dreaded Baby Boomers (I’m near the tail end), should know better. Many of us were born in the shadow of polio, a disease of the summer that could quickly take your life. Or, it could leave you paralyzed or even trapped in an iron lung (a steel tube that changed air pressure to force your lungs to expand and contract, replacing paralyzed chest muscles).
It was real. There seemed to be no way to avoid it, no action parents could take that could guarantee their child wouldn’t be stricken. We all knew kids on crutches, or in braces; left disabled by the virus. The most effective national fundraising operation was called “The March of Dimes”, raising money for polio research and medical care. It was a time when dimes made a difference.
If you were a kid of the 1950’s, you were part of the near-miraculous experiment: the polio vaccine. The first was the injectable vaccine, created by Jonas Salk (University of Michigan), with incredible results. But one manufacturer put out a “bad batch”, that sickened a lot of kids. So the Salk vaccine was placed on hold for a while. Meanwhile, there was a second vaccine, this one taken orally, literally with “a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down” (and where the “Mary Poppins” song lyrics came from).
Maggie’s Street
Albert Sabin developed the oral vaccine. He lived in Cincinnati on Rawson Woods Lane, just down the street from Mom’s great friend Maggie Miller. A family story tells of neighborhood kids lining up at Sabin’s back door to be a part of the original vaccine studies. I don’t remember doing that; I would have been three or four, but Sabin’s oral vaccine soon became the standard of care for preventing polio. The shadows cast by “iron lungs” faded into vague memories.
And we also went through a litany of other childhood diseases. Most came out unscathed, but there were always a few who “didn’t make it”. Measles, whooping cough, chicken pox, scarlet fever, mumps; most kids had them all. Like my classmates, I had them too (though it took until my thirties to “finally get” chicken pox).
The Boomers were the last generation facing that. Childhood vaccinations; polio, the “MMR” (measles, mumps, rubella, also known as “German Measles”) and later the chicken pox vaccine spared millions of kids the known risks of disease. In fact, the vaccines were so effective, that the miniscule number of adverse reactions became “the story”. Instead of marveling at the vast numbers who didn’t get sick at all, we focused on the few damaged by the vaccines.
Covid
That was, until Covid. Since more recent generations grew up in an era when the most dangerous community disease was the flu (with some protection available even for that), there was a great deal of skepticism about Covid. To a large segment of our Nation, it became another infection to get, survive, and move on. Even when the Covid vaccines were developed (with “Warp Speed” under the Trump Administration), many decided to ignore them, and take their chances with the virus.
Covid killed 1.2 million Americans. It still is in the “top-ten” of causes of death in the US today. Even though the vaccine didn’t prevent infection, it clearly reduces the impact of illness. IF Americans were vaccinated, then those who are most vulnerable to Covid infection would be better protected. Instead, Covid vaccination became a political talking point, a way to rally “the base”, and a point of honor to many Americans. Vaccinations don’t work in a Nation where it is tied to ideological Red or Blue.
Hallowed Name
President-Elect Donald Trump has nominated Robert Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Kennedy carries a “hallowed” name, the son of my greatest political hero. But that’s where the similarity ends. Kennedy originally made his mark as a lawyer who fought against polluters, but now stands as the premier “anti-vaxxer” in the Nation. And his “anti-vax” stand doesn’t just include the Covid vaccine. He has called for an end to mandatory childhood vaccinations, including polio. His “science” is based on radically divergent medical opinion. He cherry-picked a very few doctors opinions against the overwhelming majority of scientific facts to base his view.
Donald Trump wants to make him the head of the Department that controls public health. He plans to place a man in charge who is determined to go back to the era of childhood diseases, back into the shadow of the iron lung. Kennedy may have his “whack-o” views, perhaps a byproduct of earlier heroin addiction, or the worm infection in his brain. That’s sad; for both him and the rest of his family who finds their hallowed name dragged through the mud.
But what is totally irresponsible is that the man elected President ( by a very slim margin) would place such a man in a position of authority.
That’s the real failure.
