Before you buy into vaccine skepticism, remember lessons from the past | Opinion

A historic 1960 photograph depicted a nurse caring for a victim during a Rhode Island polio epidemic. The victim is inside an Emerson respirator, also sometimes referred to as an iron lung. Devices like these, were used by polio patients, whose ability to breath was thwarted due to paralysis. (Courtesy photo/CDC)

By Sheila Jaffe

PUBLISHED: January 12, 2025 at 6:44 AM EST

I graduated from the Jefferson Medical College Hospital of Philadelphia in 1965, majoring in medical technology. I went on to work for other hospitals over the years, mainly in clinical bacteriology and infection control.

In 1970, I worked in the bacteriology laboratory at Episcopal Hospital. I was in the early stage of  pregnancy with my first child, Joy, when I was exposed to a patient who was suspected of having German measles, also called rubella. Unfortuantely, I did not know this at the time I was drawing his blood for lab tests. Exposure in the early months of pregnancy could cause permanent birth defects. The measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine was not available until 1971 to protect children and pregnant women. All that could be done for me was to test my blood that day to see if I had antibodies to protect myself and my fetus. I was tested again in two weeks, but the results were inconclusive, so I didn’t know if my fetus would be affected. Thankfully she was born with no birth defects, but I didn’t know that through my entire pregnancy. Abortion was still not legal until 1973.

Sheila Jaffe is immediate past president of the Palm Beach County chapter of the National Organization for Women. (courtesy, Sheila Jaffe)