Earlier last year, I posted about this episode which I'd never heard much about - but which I remembered as a little kid, having been vaccinated three times before I got a scab. Over the years, different events have been colored by the advent of the Boomers and often, as in this pandemic event, makes me doubt my memory.

Curious, I looked it up and discovered not only did it happen, but it has some relevance to the handling of the current pandemic. Indeed, this outbreak occurred in March, 1947. Smallpox had been the scourge of mankind for eons, so when several individuals, who quickly died, were diagnosed with this disease, officials jumped on vaccination as a way to combat and prevent its spread. The U.S. Public Health Service and NYC health officials inoculated over 6 million people from March 1947 to the end of April 1947! It's amazing to me that this crisis was nipped in the bud over 70 years ago before the days of widespread computer use with all its metrics and algorithms, social media outlets, "transparency". Granted, smallpox was not a sneaky disease like the corona virus and a supply of vaccine was already on hand and its manufacture and distribution were not as complicated.

Comparatively, as a current example, the most vulnerable group, seniors, is being squeezed out. Bureaucracy, political correctness and posturing, scientific speculation, general and yet dismissive panic, and media and celebrity overreach amid a presidential election has made a nightmare of vaccine distribution.

Does anyone else recall the smallpox scare of 1947? Have you as a senior (65 plus) received A shot? (I am currently on a "Standby-Wait List", whatever that is.)

Reference ID: BK96618

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