As they get ready to roll out the vaccine for COVID, how many of you remember going to your local school or health department to get the polio vaccine by way of sugar cube? If I remember correctly we had to get at least two doses. I will not forget going with my parents and sisters to our local elementary school and waiting in line for our turn for that polio sugar cube.
Yes, I remember. What I didn't remember was that apparently there was a huge controversy over taking the vaccine back then. There were a lot of people who thought it was an instrument created by the government to turn people into blank-eyed robots.
Apparently Elvis Pressley did a lot to get people to take the vaccine.
I also remember getting tested for tuberculosis while in elementary school. I had a positive reaction and so had to go get x-rayed to make sure I didn't have the disease. I got a positive reaction when I took the test again in college. Same deal with another chest x-ray later on. The doctors believed it was just an allergic reaction to the test. So now, given that people with a history of allergic reactions shouldn't take the test, do I take the covid vaccine? I have had plenty of other vaccines, including a huge number of them right before we moved to South America in 1967. Twelve shots, one after the other for two weeks. The only problem I had was sore arms and a profound dislike of my previously beloved Dr. Crowfoot. I guess I have about a month or two to think about it.
When I was in 2nd grade, the school lined kids up by classes, took us downstairs, and I am pretty sure they had a machine that gave out some big shots for something, but IDK what it was.
It was like cattle being lined up for the slaughter. I remember kids crying ahead of me in line and a couple of kids passing out. We were raised with kind of a "suck it up, buttercup" attitude, so I remember trying not to be scared. It was scary though.
I have no clue what the shot was for and none of our parents were there.
I survived, but still remember!
I remember standing in line at the health department with my mother and sisters.
I'm happy I had smart and caring parents who made sure we got the vaccine as soon as it was available to us.
I remember both the sugar cubes as well as the injections earlier. My mother always said that her biggest hero was Dr. Salk. She would have been very happy to know I live within walking distance from the Salk Institute where real science happens every day.
Below is an article that is very interesting about the history of the vaccine. The regular Salk vaccine was given to school age children starting in 1954. The sugar cube was not approved to be distributed in the USA until 1962.
The first vaccine was an injection of dead virus by Salk. Later, another vaccine came about, as many mention remembering the Sabin's sugar cube vaccine (which had a live virus). This was not first given in the USA, but was tried and given in the Soviet Union. Amazingly Pfizer was the first company to mass produce this vaccine. And after 1993...."The only occurrences of paralytic poliomyelitis in the West after this time were the few cases caused by the live-virus vaccine itself."
And it is interesting to note: Neither Salk or Sabin patented their vaccines; they donated the rights as gifts to humanity. Wow.
Now looking back after much research, it seems that the sugar cube was more dangerous than it was known at the time. They no longer use the sugar cube and have gone back to the Salk version.
I remember both the Salk vaccine injection and the Sabin sugar cube. My public school administered the Sabin, but my Mom was unsure and did not sign the permission. She changed her mind later! But we had to go to theBoard of Health to get it.
I remember too! I don't remember whether it was first or second, but we lined up like cattle and kids were crying. It was a big air gun instead of a needle and it really hurt. You could hear it while you were waiting. No parents around and I tried not to be scared, but I still remember the sound today! It was some type of special dose: By the late 1960s, vaccines were also available to protect against mumps (1967) and rubella (1969)
I also got the sugar cubes at the school cafeteria on Sunday afternoon. Amazing how we still remember details. They had a purple dot on top!
When I was only 2 or 3 years old, I remember a boy in my neighborhood who was in a wheelchair due to polio. He was probably around 10 or 11...a “big” boy as far as I was concerned. He frightened me because of the wheelchair, but also because he had a cap pistol and he was a very rambunctious, noisy kid!
I have a friend in my knitting group who has one foot that is several sizes smaller than the other because she had polio.
I remember how important adults thought this vaccine was, and how relieved they seemed to be that it existed. I recall mass vaccinations (seen on TV). I was vaccinated at my pediatrician’s office.
The polio vaccine was amazing and significant in preventing a devastating disease.
I did have a student who was one of those rare children who contracted the disease from the vaccine. He is paralyzed from the waist down. Like the little boy in my neighborhood years ago, he was (as a kid) very active like any other boy. He played baseball and basketball with friends on the playground, and he was a good swimmer. I guess he must have finished college by now...I haven’t seen him in a few years.
We were in school and walked down to the cafeteria for our sugar cube and back to class. We thought it was a little weird that we were having sugar in school! Our class parties were very different from the ones today, no candy at all.
I had the same experience with getting vaccines. I don’t recall an airgun type thing, though. I do remember getting x’s on each arm to indicate which vaccines we were to get. It was put on with a magic marker ( that’s what permanent markers were called then), and we wore those x’s like a badge of courage.
My sister was a couple years older than me and always fainted when she got a shot. Yup. She did in the school gym, too
Yes Cat woman. I had forgotten about getting "labelled" with the magic marker. I only had one big "shot" thankfully. I can't imagine having them in each arm. I guess it was to help the nurse know where to "aim". . I guess if you are giving a hundred shots at a site, it made it more organized and efficient.
You have jogged my memory. I recall everyone lining up in the cafegymatorium in the late 60s to get vaccinations at school. No parents around. I don't remember what the vaccine was for though. I bet I still have the little slip of paper I was given to take home to my parents. I, too, never throw stuff away.
Chalkdusty if you still have that, maybe you could give it or a copy of it to your local historical society. That is probably something that they would like to have.
I think I had the vaccine when it was first approved. My best friend and I were talking on the phone last week and we reminisced about taking the injection of the polio vaccine. We were in 2nd grade. We even both have the little cards that we were given that stated we were "polio pioneers." We were some of the first to get the vaccine. Most of the conversation was how much our parents wanted us to get vaccinated and how we can not understand anyone today who refuses to allow their children to be vaccinated. Of course back then there were no facebook doctors telling everyone that what the experts in the field say is all wrong.
It would have been in the early 70's, but I remember being told it was for polio. The medicine was a purple liquid in a plastic vial similar to what eye drop samples come in. I remember it tasted good. I could not have been more that 4 or 5 years old.
I remember the high school gym & the sugar cube. It was before I started school. I only recall going once, but if it had to be given twice I am sure we did. My parents were terrified that one of us would get it. When my brother was in the hospital to have his appendix removed there was on unused iron lung outside his room. My mother made sure to tell us that my brother's care had nothing to do with that piece of equipment and that they were only storing it there in case someone needed it sometime. I had no idea what it was, but I do remember it was green and stainless steel with a mirror above where the person's head would have been. I wondered why there was a mirror on it because I didn't really understand anything about the machine. The only person I ever knew about who had actually contracted the disease was the older sister of a classmate in high school. I did not really know her, just knew who she was, that she was in a wheel chair and was extremely thin.
I remember going to the Health Department in Germantown and getting the sugar cube. I also remember we took the bus there, which we never took the bus for anything.
My 1 brother's wife's parents both have polio. Her father had a worst case and used a wheelchair at the end of his life. Her mother uses crutches. They met at Temple University and married for over 50 years. Her dad was an accountant and her mom a SPED teacher. They have a lot of friends with polio.
> 
12-10-2020, 10:15 AM
