re: #249 Blind Frog Belly White

(From downstairs)

I’m talking specifically about measles, though. I’m pretty sure I had measles as a kid, but I don’t remember when, and in fact don’t remember having it (them?). I remember having the mumps, and I remember having chicken pox.

Regarding Polio, people my age (born in 1957) would only remember polio as something we were vaccinated against, and something we might have heard about (March of Dimes, kids in iron lungs, etc.). I never knew anyone who had a polio-caused paralysis until I was over 30, and Mrs. FBW was working with a woman whose left arm was paralyzed. And I didn’t notice it till she pointed it out to me.

Older Boomers, who were already in school by the time of the Polio Vaccine might remember quarantines every summer, but that was all gone by the time I hit grade school in 1962.

Right — and you’re a “trailing edge” boomer. I’m just a few years older, so I got the “leading edge” lessons.

(I thought I hadn’t had measles — that’s what my dear, deceased mother said — and had myself tested for immunity and found that I had after all. If you have any question about your immunity status, I STRONGLY suggest that you find out and get yourself vaccinated if you’re at risk, given the current thinness of our herd immunity. As they keep reminding us, measles is extremely contagious and very dangerous. )