Covid took America by surprise. I think we thought that the \u201cage of disease\u201d was past. In fact, most Americans today believe that cancer will soon be \u201ccured\u201d (in some way or other). I hope they\u2019re right. But folks of my generation, the dreaded Baby Boomers (I\u2019m 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). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was real. There seemed to be no way to avoid it, no action parents could take that could guarantee their child wouldn\u2019t be stricken. We all knew kids on crutches, or in braces; left disabled by the virus. The most effective national fundraising operation was called \u201cThe March of Dimes\u201d, raising money for polio research and medical care. It was a time when dimes made a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you were a kid of the 1950\u2019s, 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 \u201cbad batch\u201d, 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 \u201ca spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down\u201d (and where the \u201cMary Poppins\u201d song lyrics came from). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Albert Sabin developed the oral vaccine. He lived in Cincinnati on Rawson Woods Lane, just down the street from Mom\u2019s great friend Maggie Miller. A family story tells of neighborhood kids lining up at Sabin\u2019s back door to be a part of the original vaccine studies. I don\u2019t remember doing that; I would have been three or four, but Sabin\u2019s oral vaccine soon became the standard of care for preventing polio. The shadows cast by \u201ciron lungs\u201d faded into vague memories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And we also went through a litany of other childhood diseases. Most came out unscathed, but there were always a few who \u201cdidn\u2019t make it\u201d. 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 \u201cfinally get\u201d chicken pox). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Boomers were the last generation facing that.\u00a0\u00a0Childhood vaccinations; polio, the \u201cMMR\u201d (measles, mumps, rubella, also known as \u201cGerman Measles\u201d) and later the chicken pox vaccine spared millions of kids the known risks of disease.\u00a0\u00a0In fact, the vaccines were so effective, that the miniscule number of adverse reactions became \u201cthe story\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Instead of marveling at the vast numbers who didn\u2019t get sick at all, we focused on the few damaged by the vaccines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 \u201cWarp Speed\u201d under the Trump Administration), many decided to ignore them, and take their chances with the virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Covid killed 1.2 million Americans. It still is in the \u201ctop-ten\u201d of causes of death in the US today. Even though the vaccine didn\u2019t 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 \u201cthe base\u201d, and a point of honor to many Americans. Vaccinations don\u2019t work in a Nation where it is tied to ideological Red or Blue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President-Elect Donald Trump has nominated Robert Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services.\u00a0\u00a0Kennedy carries a \u201challowed\u201d name, the son of my greatest political hero.\u00a0\u00a0But that\u2019s where the similarity ends.\u00a0\u00a0Kennedy originally made his mark as a lawyer who fought against polluters, but now stands as the premier \u201canti-vaxxer\u201d in the Nation.\u00a0\u00a0And his \u201canti-vax\u201d stand doesn\u2019t just include the Covid vaccine.\u00a0\u00a0He has called for an end to mandatory childhood vaccinations, including polio.\u00a0\u00a0His \u201cscience\u201d is based on radically divergent medical opinion.\u00a0\u00a0He cherry-picked a very few doctors opinions against the overwhelming majority of scientific facts to base his view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 \u201cwhack-o\u201d views, perhaps a byproduct of earlier heroin addiction, or the worm infection in his brain. That\u2019s sad; for both him and the rest of his family who finds their hallowed name dragged through the mud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s the real failure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"