I took my son to the doctor today to get some vaccinations. My wife made me promise to ask the doctor if the vaccinations would give him autism (I didn’t want to ask because I already knew the answer). Of course he said no, and then talked a little bit about the dangers of not getting them. He said some doctors in his practice are now refusing to take kids as patients if the parents will not vaccinate them.
I then asked the doctor if he thought it was possible for there to be a polio outbreak because off all the morons not vaccinating their kids. He said yes, it might be possible.
As I was driving home, I thought of a question I should have asked him. If there were a polio outbreak, would I be safe? I was vaccinated over 30 years ago, and I know that some vaccines (tetanus, for one) expire after maybe 10 years. Given this, would it make sense for adults to get a polio booster? (I’m just using polio as an example, feel free to substitute a different one if you want.)
When I traveled to Africa a few years back, I talked to a Physicians’ Assistant about vaccinations which I “needed”. He figured based on my age, the ages at which I’d recieved my childhood vaccinations, and the likelihood (or lack thereof) of exposure to various diseases that I did not need a booster for measles, polio, etc.
I did recieve vaccinations for Yellow Fever (I think), Hepatitis ? (I think A, but don’t know for sure off-hand) and Tetanus–with a mini-lecture about how tetanus is endemic in the U.S. and so one should always keep one’s tetanus booster up to date.
If polio (etc.) make a significant comeback in the U.S.(or in a specific region of the U.S.) or if you are travelling someplace where Polio has not been largely irradicated by childhood vaccinations, it would make sense for adults to get boosters. But in the meantime, you probably don’t need a booster for your childhood vaccinations.
I was going to ask if you got the Salk or Sabin vaccination? I knew for a fact that the Salk version required a booster.
But a quick Google reveiled something:
even if you took the live Sabin variety, it’s still advised you get a booster if you’re heading to a country where polio is endemic.