Those Dreaded Summers of Polio

Way back when I was a little girl I remember a few summers when my older brother and I would be called back inside the house by our mother in the afternoons. She would make us rest on the back porch for a few hours. She'd pull the blinds to stop the sunlight from coming in. We each had a daybed to rest on. We couldn't talk to each other. We were allowed to look at books which was fine with me. I can't remember much about what we were told other than something called polio was going around and if we didn't rest we could get it. I still didn't understand what "it" was but from the tone in her voice I understood polio to be quite scary.

Our mother was a nurse. A very dedicated nurse. We loved it when we were put in the backseat of the car and we'd go along with our parents as our father drove our mother to the hospital to work the night shift. I loved seeing her dressed in her white uniform with her starched nurses' cap, highlighted by a black ribbon meaning she was a registered nurse. So, knowing my mother was a nurse, because I saw her being dropped off at the hospital with my own eyes, if she told me to rest because there was something lurking outside that could permanently harm me , I rested. So did my brother. A few times I overheard my parents talking about "it." I remember the term iron lung but again, I was clueless. 

(Photo above shows a hospital in that era treating children stricken with polio. All were in those iron lungs.)

One thing I do remember was when a vaccine had been approved for Polio. Again I heard my parents talking about it in the kitchen. My mother sounded anxious for us to get our shots. On the day we walked down with her to City Hall to get our Polio Vaccines she seemed quite anxious to get there. Being a nurse, she understood  polio was paralyzing too many children. That's why there were so many kids in lines. Despite the crowd, I remember thinking how quiet it was. I don't remember getting the shot. I still have the scar. Later on when our younger sister was vaccinated, her scar became infected. 

Now, a Polio Vaccination is one of the required Vaccinations to get into school.

Being a kid I never realized there was such commotion concerning the vaccine. It had become a nationwide epidemic and I was clueless. So many were refusing to get it. So many children were being paralyzed. Adults too, including one of my aunts. One person responsible for convincing teens and their parents to get the shot was Elvis Presley. He agreed to be vaccinated backstage at the Ed Sullivan Theater before his first unforgettable appearance on that show. Elvis Presley getting that shot on TV increased the vaccination rate for teens from 0.6% to 80%. 

Elvis Presley became a spokesperson for Polio Vaccinations.