the vaccines of me

[susandennis]

I just read where Bush, Clinton and Obama have agreed to get the COVID shot to give the rest of us confidence in it. It's the first time, really, that I've heard it referred to as a shot. Most everyone has been very careful not to mention the needle aspect. I guess there are enough people out there who are shot adverse.

They could go back to the old way...

I got vaccinated for small pox back in the day when they would scratch the skin on your upper arm and then drip the vaccine medicine onto the open wound. It sounds so horrible now but it was the way back then. You got a big old scab and then you got to go back and do it again once the scab healed. I forget what the second one was for. But they both left dime sized scars. Mine have nearly faded. But it used to be nice proof that I had been vaccinated.

When the polio vaccine came out there were actually two. One was a shot but one was a sugar cube! Now there's some customer driven science for you.

Of course, today it would need to be sugar free, gluten free, vegetarian, vegan, peanut free, etc.

Shot's probably the best plan.

Comments

[bill-schubert.livejournal.com]

I also remember being in line at Whitaker waiting for my sugar cube. People were wary of going into a public pool and then it was safe. Like flipping a switch. We could do that again but likely won't.

At the podiatrist today I heard a guy older than me bragging that he'd not been tested and would not get a vaccine. I heard Darwin chuckle.

[susandennis]

I'd totally forgotten that we got them at school!! But, you are right. Wow. Can you imagine that today??

I have that Darwin thought a whole lot. I just wish there was a more direct link between stupid and non-survival. What a world that would be.

[bill-schubert.livejournal.com]

Yeah, evolution takes too damn long!

[christopher575.livejournal.com]

I always wondered what those big scabs were about. I thought it was a shot that just had a big ol' reaction.

[susandennis]

My mother explained to me (probably lying through her teeth) that if I didn't get a big scab and a big scar, I'd have to have it done all over again. My whining about it ended immediately which was her intent.

[timbear.livejournal.com]

I lived in Singapore as a young child in the sixties, so I had many regular vaccinations. These days if any doctor says "I think you should have this injection" I'm rolling my sleeve up there and then. Right now I'm wearing T shirts in the middle of winter just in case I get called at short notice ...

[rsc.livejournal.com]

I did in fact express to my doctor my mild concerns about the unprecedented speed with which the vaccine was developed, and he reassured me that this was because it was largely based on existing technology. I trust hi, so I'm planning to get it as soon as they'll let me.

I too have had lots of vaccinations over the years. Most recently Shingrix, which various people warned me might produce an unpleasant reaction, but aside from a few days of soreness at the injection site it wasn't bad.

[susandennis]

Good intel on the new vaccines. My sleeve is rolled up and ready.

No one warned me about the Shingrix. The first one gave me a really really sore arm. But, I was ready for the next one and did some arm work just after and it was fine.

[sherlock999.livejournal.com]

Ha! When I had the vaccine for shingles earlier this year, I got a fever of 103. Unusual adverse reaction. Fortunately it was my 2nd shot, so I won't have to do that again (I hope). But I'm still getting the COVID vaccine!

[adafrog.livejournal.com]

lol

[rhodielady-47.livejournal.com]

I remember being given the sugar cube version!
:^)

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

The first vaccine against polio was the Salk one, and it need to be given by injection - but by the early 60s Dr Sabin developed the oral version. So those of us with the big scars from the early inoculation can be dated by them :)

[rhodielady-47.livejournal.com]

Thank you for telling me this--I always wondered why the adults had those fingernail-sized scars on their arms but I didn't.
:^)

[coercedbynutmeg.livejournal.com]

Right before I turned 5, I had to go get a booster shot. Along with it came a dose of polio vax. I sat down in the chair and the woman said, "ok, open your mouth" and I about freaked out because I thought she was going to give me a shot on the tongue! Then she said, "it's just drops, honey," and squeezed a little pink ampule of oral polio vaccine into my mouth. *Then* I got the shot. In my arm.

[siglinde99.livejournal.com]

I don’t remember the sugar cube, but I definitely have the smallpox scar. Now the only one you get at school is the HPV vaccine.

[richaarde.livejournal.com]

If they had more time, and they could prove that a COVID vaccine could be given orally and not be destroyed by the digestive system, I'm sure they would do it. As it is, they need to start giving this vaccine to people yesterday.

[dadi.livejournal.com]

Ahhh the sugar cube! We got diphteritis and pertussis vaccines on sugar too. Happy memories ;)

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I still have my scars from my vaccinations, too, if you look carefully.

And I pointed out to someone of our general generation who was whinging on about there not being enough proof of long term effects of the covid vaccine, that it is a good thing her parents didn't say that when she was a small child being vaccinated against polio - if they had waited for 'long term' she might be severely disabled or dead.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Well, now all you folks have forced me to roll up my left sleeve to find out if I could still see my smallpox scar. I can't.

[lifeinroseland.livejournal.com]

Ooohhhh, that’s why those scars look like that! I always figured it was just a shot that gave you that scar, or something. Man.

[onelargecat.livejournal.com]

And of course I have already seen one QAnon-loving person on FB (a woman who I was friends with when I lived in San Diego...she was totally normal then, I swear, but she has gone down the rabbit hole the past few years) say she knows it'll just be "actors" pretending to give the vaccine shot to the ex-presidents. EVERYONE IS IN ON IT.