No one protested the polio vaccine

In 1933, my 16-year-old brother died of polio. Like the COVID-19 virus, polio affected his lungs. The closest iron lung to Weiser, Idaho, that might have saved him was in Portland, Oregon.

When the polio epidemic raged, it was like a curse hanging over our heads. Without a vaccine for years, many spent the rest of their lives in a wheelchair or in an iron lung. Raising six children, polio was always on my mind. Finally, in 1954, an American doctor, Jonas Salk, our hero, developed a serum that killed the virus and was given to children by injection.

Then, in 1955 Sabin developed an oral vaccine for the general public. Everyone took the vaccine in the form of a sugar cube and there were rare cases of polio for 30 years. In those days, there were no foolish people waving signs protesting the vaccine.

Today, we are so fortunate to have a reliable vaccine for COVID-19. For now, the scientists have pretty much proved it protects you and others. So get the COVID shot and wear a mask!

Eleanor Wagner

Grangeville, Idaho