Recalling our past shows need for vaccines

Congratulations to Donna Gaffner and Teri Mills’ promotion of vaccinations (“Grandparents must lead on vaccines,” Sept. 3).

Having just turned 90, my viewpoint has been shaped by personal history. I recall my mother’s recollections of her experiences as a nurse during the great flu epidemic in 1918-19. In 1922, my father’s mother died of diphtheria during that epidemic.

Antibiotics were unavailable until after World War II, meaning people were dying from “blood poisoning” and other infections arising from something as simple as a puncture wound or scratch. Tuberculosis was prevalent when I was growing up, and I remember diagnoses sending victims to sanataria.

In 1945, I contracted scarlet fever and was quarantined. I vividly remember how polio

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