Do you remember getting the Salk polio shot back in '55 or '56?

[Hekate]

59. I remember it vividly. LIFE magazine was full of photos of kids in iron lungs...

...during the last great epidemic. Every single school had its quota of kids in heavy metal and leather braces — forever. No ramps, no elevators.

So when the injections became available, every parent in town, with few exceptions, lined their kids up for this new lifesaver. The Anti-Vaxxer Shit was confined to a few fringe religious sects.

It never occurred to me to wonder what my parents paid or if they paid until I was well into my adulthood. We had no money. I realized the vaccination program had been free.

In my town, Kailua, Oahu, the site for the clinic was Kainalu Elementary, where my brother and I went. It was after dark, and the line of parents and children went from the classroom, out to the playground, all across that, to the gates, and on down the sidewalk a long way.

There were 4 of us kids, and my little sister was needle-phobic and threw a tantrum of epic proportions when she saw what was coming. And you know what, Anti-Vaxxers? My mom held her tight until she got her shot.