Vaccination lesson

Dear Editor:

When I was five-years-old, I contracted polio. Despite a very negative prognosis, with time and therapy, I recovered. The following year the Salk vaccine was introduced; too late for me but I was vaccinated nonetheless. For a long time in most countries, polio became a thing of the past.

In my mid-30s, I developed what was ultimately diagnosed as post polio syndrome. The virus was long gone but the damage that it had inflicted on my central nervous system and which my body had been compensating for all those years caught up with me. It wasn’t readily apparent – I looked healthy and still do – but it prematurely aged me and has imposed serious limitations. Up to forty per cent of polio survivors have suffered from some degree of post polio syndrome and it can worsen with age.

Still, I feel fortunate. I’m 72 now. When my turn comes to be vaccinated against the COVID virus, I will, without hesitation, be vaccinated. I would be a complete fool not to be.

Elizabeth Shackleford, Belwood