It was an ordinary day. Reading a story written by an editor of a magazine I enjoy reading from time to time. She wrote about one of her earliest memories she can recall about a weird mark on both of her parents' upper arms. It was a small circular scar about the size of a dime. Didn't state if it was on the left arm or right arm, but perhaps that didn't matter. She went on to say that she also noticed it on the arms of some of her aunts and uncles. Perhaps if she had looked at a few others, she might have also found the same mark. It turns out that the mark was the scar that was made from having the smallpox vaccination years ago. I can remember my mother taking me to my family doctor when I was young to be vaccinated and discovering a few days later that the vaccination spot on my arm had totally healed. Next time I went back to the doctor he examined my arm and also couldn't find the weird mark that most everyone else had on their arm. He finally told my mother that I must have a natural immunity to smallpox. For many who do have the small round scar, it was a badge of honor that was conferred by the smallpox vaccine. A badge that I never had. I can still remember feeling left out that after having to go to the doctor and getting a shot that I had nothing to show for it. Many friends didn't believe I ever had the shot! Almost the same as a few weeks ago when I had my first and second inoculations for COVID-19 and neither time did I have any reaction to the injections. I told my wife I thought they gave me fake shots just to see what would happen to me. Then I thought back to those days when I was a child and never had the scar on my arm to share with everyone. Well, those that had the smallpox injection were saved from having the disease that today is cited as the only infectious disease humans have managed to eradicate. The World Health Organization certified the achievement in 1980. It was possible thanks to a global vaccination campaign that the World Health Organization started in 1967. And, the story I was reading said that no matter how the vaccine was administered, the smallpox vaccine left a crater-like scar in the skin because it involved delivering a live version of a related pox virus into the body. The skin around the the injection site could then get damaged and scab over, leaving the scar. The vaccination was the big story for years since it was responsible for the eradication of smallpox. My wife and I, as well as our friends who are about the same age as us, are part of the incredibly fortunate generations that are now spared the threat of smallpox. But, over the years, a combination of complacency and misinformation has been driving down vaccination rates for a variety of other preventable diseases. Three years ago Brazil lost its WHO certification for eradicating measles due to lack of vaccinations. Seems that is now the same for most countries, the USA included, since many do not believe it is necessary to get the COVID-19 vaccination. If they only had been born during the time that I was and can see the results of having the vaccination. I may not have that smallpox scar on my arm, but I did my part and had the vaccination just as everyone else did for the good of mankind. We can only hope that parents who don't believe in vaccinations for COVID-19 for themselves, don't keep their children from having the vaccination needed for the other childhood diseases that have been shown to be preventable with a vaccination. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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