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Opinion: Skeptical about vaccinating your children? Talk to someone who knows the nightmare of polio

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To the editor: For a long time I have been following the stories of parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated. I can hardly stand to read about it any more, hence this letter. (“Who are the doctors giving out too many vaccination exemptions?” Readers React, Aug. 18)

I was a student nurse in the 1950s when polio epidemics raged every summer. We worried that every sniffle or sore throat might indicate that a full-blown polio infection was setting in with its horrendous effects. Many suffered permanent paralysis; some died.

Beloved actress Helen Hayes lost her daughter, Mary McArthur, to polio in 1949, and in her memory she established a special treatment center for patients needing care. I spent a month there as a student, learning polio respirator nursing — nice words for learning how to care for children and adults who were in an “iron lung.”

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So I remember well that day in 1955 when the news came that the polio vaccine would soon be available for general use. I cried in relief knowing that no longer would we need iron lungs or other devices since polio would soon be stopped.

Yes, some people cannot get vaccinated for valid medical reasons. But those parents choosing to withhold vaccines from their children or delay immunization should talk to those of us who worked and lived through all that. They could also talk to the parents still grieving over the kids they lost from the days when we did not have the miracle of vaccines.

Audray Johnson, Riverside

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