7/28/2021

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Polio was the big epidemic about the time I was born.

My Dad told me once that while my Mother was "carrying" me a neighbor friend 
of hers kids had polio and he told her to stay away from them.

I wonder how my life would have gone if I had contracted it.

I read there were 57,628 reported cases in 1952, the peak year, resulting in 
3,145 deaths.

Most people who got the virus had no or flu like symptoms for a week or so, 
but some suffered very serious, life long paralysis or death.

I personally knew two people who were seriously screwed up by polio for the 
rest of their lives, one very seriously.

Polio was no hoax, no joke and no mere "flu".

Dr. Jonas Salk’s vaccine was approved in 1955.

I remember getting a vaccine shot, a booster a year later and the orange 
flavored oral vaccine a while after that.

I seem to still be alive - last time I checked - so I guess it wasn't 
poisoned.

Of course it's only been 60 years - maybe there's a delayed reaction that's 
still going to come on.

By 1962 the number of polio cases in the U.S. was under 1,000.

The U.S. has been polio free since 1979.

History of polio
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_polio

The Worst Outbreaks in U.S. History
https://www.healthline.com/health/worst-disease-outbreaks-history#polio

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When the Covid-19 Pfizer vaccine was available to me in February I went in 
and got it as soon as I could.

I felt some fatigue for about a week after each of the two shots but it was 
negligible and I would do it again in a heart beat.

If a booster shot is recommended, I'll get that too.

I assume most anti-vaxxers are just too young to remember polio.

I don't think they have a gut feeling for just how serious this really 
situation really is.

Why this has become a political issue baffles me.

It's a public health issue.

The government is trying to save your 'A' from a horrible, deadly, highly 
infectious disease.

Some people hate the government so much they're willing to die rather than 
accept their help.

I don't trust the government on everything either - but I follow President 
Reagan's dictate "Trust but verify."

I don't start out from a belief that the government is always trying to kill 
me or enslave me.

They're big and they're clumsy, but they're not evil.

This isn't a hoax - there's over 600,000 dead Americans - and counting!

The population of Minneapolis proper is only 420,324 (2019).

What should the government do in this situation? Ignore Covid-19 entirely? 
Let everybody just die?

No thank you.

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Look, I don't want to tell anybody what to do, I really don't.

Isn't it enough to just ask people to do the right thing?

We are adult, American citizens - we should act like it.

We're not some whiny little children who won't eat their Brussels sprouts.

This is important.

We can stamp out Covid-19 like we did Polio - or not.

Please - at least think about it.


Stay Jazzed!
--Tom Swezey
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