I was recently in a Walgreens pharmacy waiting half an hour in the queue and noticed the pharmacy is promoting free flu shots, so that is really cost-effective preventive maintenance.
In mid-January, the CDC was reporting an estimated 15-25 million cases since October 1, 2025; 180,000-380,000 hospitalizations, and up to 38,000 deaths, and that is just an estimate, so the number of cases is probably much higher.
I remember my first encounters with vaccinations in elementary school after Dr. Jonas Salk developed one of the first polio vaccines in the mid-1950s. As I recall, the tasteless dose was hidden in a small sugar cube so the compliance rate among school-age children was probably 100%!
I also remember the almost dime-sized scab that formed on the upper arm of “vaccinees” where the two-pronged needle jab happened with the smallpox vaccine. And the small symmetrical round scar that persisted for decades became a “scarlet letter” of sorts for baby boomers who shared the mark of the vaccination.
Dr. Salk became a legend and was considered a “miracle worker” for his research and development of the polio vaccine. Amazingly, he chose not to patent the vaccine and had no “gain of function” financially for his work, as he wanted to make sure the vaccine was made available worldwide. Quite the humanitarian gesture!
Today, vaccines are available for a multitude of diseases, including cholera (a nasty and terrible contagious bacterial infection that still kills far too many people in underdeveloped countries worldwide), diphtheria, and Ebola (another hideous killer that was the subject of a terrifying 1994 book, The Hot Zone, written by Richard Preston, about the origins and incidents involving viral hemorrhagic fevers, including ebolaviruses and marburgviruses. This is truly one of the scariest books I’ve read, but also one of the most realistic stories about the things that can kill us mercilessly and quickly!).
Pilots who fly internationally are much more attuned to the need for immunization, especially when flying into higher risk areas of the planet. The FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine posted a Disposition Table addressing the “post-dose observation period” for many vaccinations. Most of them, if the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved, require no post-dose observation before flying, but notable exceptions include most of the COVID-19 vaccines (Comirnaty, Moderna, and Novavax) and the shingles vaccines, which have a 24-hour observation time, and rabies with a whopping 72-hour wait time.
Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities captures the appropriate juxtaposition; we live in “the best of times, the worst of times.”
Be safe and be happy!
