The Age of Getting It

We just had to get it.

There was nothing yet to prevent us from going through it.  So we just had to buck up and take it.  Every kid was going to get them.  Every kid would have to go through the gauntlet of childhood diseases.

We had the mumps.  We got the measles (sometimes both hard and soft).  Chickenpox was common.

Yes, it's true.  We live in an age of overprotection.  It's sometimes better just to go through things and build up your immune system. 

But it also was a scary time.  I weathered the mumps and chickenpox like a trooper.  The measles, however, were not as easy.  I was sick with them for a very long time, missing a large chunk of my Kindergarten year, to the point that some in the school system felt I should be held back to repeat Kindergarten.  My parents and the doctor were very concerned, enough that they were not sure I was going to survive it.

The measles, as intense as they were for me,  was not my only childhood health scares.  I also got pneumonia twice, and mononucleosis (known as the kissing disease, which I got in fifth grade from kissing drinking fountains).

My immunity as an adult has been strong.  I rarely get the flu, and only started taking flu shots in the last two years.  I am not now nor have I ever been a germaphobe (obviously, if I was willing to "kiss" public drinking fountains).

But I also understand the value of vaccinations. They also help build up immunity, but in a different way.  Some of the diseases may seem more nuisances rather than grave dangers.  But I know personally, that is not true.   I survived measles, but it was touch and go.  I could easily not have.

We now live in an age where these diseases should be eradicated, and for a while, it looked they would be.  That has changed with the anti-vaxxer movement.  Now we have outbreaks of dangerous diseases like measles because some choose not to vaccinate their children. 

They are not all people on the fringes.  The Governor of Kentucky decided to expose his kids to chickenpox rather than get them vaccinated.  Some have claimed a connection between vaccines and the rise in autism, but no real linkage has been established. 

Everything has a risk, including vaccinations.  You can not watch TV without drug commercials that spend over half their time listing potential side effects of the prescription medicine they are trying to get you to tell a doctor that you need.  The overuse of antibiotics, both in our foods and reaching out to get over any mild condition, is causing the growth of super-resistant strains and an increasing lack of effectiveness.  Nevertheless, the benefits from childhood vaccinations far outweigh their minuscule risk.

One disease that I did not have to suffer through because a vaccine was already available, was Polio.  This was a terrible disease that took lives and left many crippled, including a President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  Perhaps our history books do not do a good enough job of conveying to our present generation the horror of its effects.  Unfortunately, they may have to find out anew, as Polio related cases are now once again on the rise.

Vaccinations help protect us all and prevent these diseases from spreading again. This shouldn't be the age of getting the diseases, but getting the vaccines to prevent the diseases.