[NFBV-Historic-Fredericksburg] Crier March 18th

[rtbyrne at aol.com]

HISTORIC FREDERICKSBURG CRIER – March 18th

 

     Olla, my friendsand fellow members of the NFB. I hope everyone is well and looking forward tothe end of the yearlong craziness. Sue and I received our second shot last weekand are supposed to be good to go as of Saturday the 20th. I want todiscuss some vaccination history but we need to talk about our meeting first.We have been asked to join the Richmond chapter at their meeting on Mondaynight the 22nd.  This will bevia Zoom and I think it could be very informative, therefore, I am cancelling Saturday’sMarch 20th meeting and propose that we do join the Richmond Chapter Monday night.  I will send out the time and Zoominstructions for joining the meeting Sunday. I am hoping that we may learn from their meeting .  I also hope that April will bring us goodenough weather so that we can meet outdoors. Hopefully being outdoors and having many members vaccinated will allowus to meet safely.

     Vaccinations andimmunities are often a widely argued and discussed topic. Sue has a closerelative and his wife who appear to have read or heard things that made themnot want to get the shot.It sounds like a lack of good information andknowledge of history.

  There are manyexamples of new discoveries and procedures that have led to the saving oflives. They are almost too numerous to mention but here are few of them.

     In the AmericanCivil War many soldiers survived being shot and surgery but died from the lackof disinfected surgical instruments and operating areas. New procedures fordisinfecting and cleaning were begun and more survived.

     Smallpox was longa deadly disease that caused many epidemics. If my memory is correct, LouisPasteur made a link between people who survived smallpox and had already hadcow pox. This led to the smallpox vaccination that became universal in thiscountry and most of the world. I believe the only remaining smallpox germs arefrozen in special labs. It is no longer the scourge it was.

     When I was ayoung boy in the 1950’s the great fear was polio. Iron lungs were much tooprevalent. In 1952 Dr. Salk led the team that produced the polio vaccination.This led to basically the elimination of another pandemic.

     Are there otherexamples of good vaccinations. One other that comes to mind is shingles. A fewyears ago, Sue and I got the shingles shot. I am told that shingles is verypainful and I wanted to avoid the pain. As it turned out, I got shingles longafter I got the shot. I had a sore on my thigh that the doctor said wasshingles. It caused me no pain due to the vaccination.

I know different groups and people have varying opinionsabout vaccinations, but as the above history suggests, they  have great historical value.  I pray that these Covid vaccinations are asgreatly beneficial.  Please be safe and Ihope to interact with you at the upcoming Monday night meeting.

Dick Byrne

rrtyrne at aol.com

804-238-5608
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