I was a young child during the peak of the polio epidemic in 1952. I remember my mother suggesting my older sister and I stay indoors when we were on a vacation to Florida one winter out of concern that we might catch the polio virus. There were terrifying images of people living their lives in iron lungs.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/history-disease-outbreaks-vaccine-timeline/polio&ved=2ahUKEwiEoaOX5eqPAxU7lokEHfGBJicQFnoECDQQAQ&usg=AOvVaw18j7iw_7GsILrr65xK8i8s

https://www.pfizer.com/news/articles/flashback_iron_lung

I would have been 8 years old in 1954 when the first mass vaccination program for polio was accomplished.

I’ve never ever doubted the benefits of vaccines and throughout my life have had every single vaccine doctors have recommended I receive.

I’m extremely grateful that all 5 of my grandchildren have also received the vaccinations that their doctors recommended.

It is beyond incomprehensible to me that there are vaccine deniers who question the benefits of vaccinations and deeply upsetting to know that they are determining CDC vaccine policy.

I’m grateful to New York State, where my grandchildren all live, to know that vaccine guidelines will be available encouraging vaccination as needed.

I, personally, will not be traveling to places where those recommendations are not in effect. I remember how frightening it was to think about the possibility of getting polio as a child. There was no vaccine then. There is now. Avoiding polio and total paralysis would seem to be a pretty good reason to get it, and those that protect you from other diseases as well!