What To Do Instead Of Getting Smallpox Shots

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COLUMNISTS

Gina Greenlee

What To Do Instead Of Getting Smallpox Shots
October 1, 2002

In the coming months, thousands, perhaps millions, of Americans may find themselves with a downright un-American amount of free time.

We may become alarmingly inert as our neighbors, colleagues and families chase, like frenetic puppies, the bouncing smallpox vaccination-on-a-stick being yanked by our federal and state governments.

We won't be queued in clinics or stymied in traffic in response to the security threat du jour. Neither will we fight for our lives in crowded, understaffed hospitals - because some of our immune systems may not be able to handle a vaccine classified as "investigational," one that can cause severe, sometimes fatal, side effects.

But in the fashion of our culture, we must keep busy.

In lieu of obtaining a smallpox vaccination, I suggest we choose from the following list of alternatives to engage our days and exercise our spirits:

De-Clutter

Toss our stash of Amoxicillin, gas masks and rubber gloves.

Boost Memory

Recall that the crowd yet to credibly enlighten the public about the source of last year's anthrax spores - the crowd whose revealed number of missed opportunities to fortify the country against the Sept. 11 attacks increases weekly - is the same crowd that is mobilizing volunteers to wield smallpox hypodermics.

Get Fit

A terrorist-precipitated smallpox outbreak would not result in mass vaccination remotely resembling order or "strategy." Airports would lock down. Roadblocks would throttle vehicles, leaving only the fit to flee on foot.

But we, the newly leisured throngs, don't exercise for such ghastly reasons. We pump up our muscles and our cardiovascular systems because that bolsters our quality of life and revs our ability to combat stress and disease.

Now we have no excuse. Our calendars are clear.

Dial Digits

Call folks you haven't chatted up in a while. Not only because the phone lines will be inaccessible in a real emergency, as those of us who tried to contact loved ones across the United States discovered in September 2001, but because you aren't spending your days at the ER bracing for the antidote to the antidote. See, you really can do lunch.

Visit The Doctor

A doctor today might keep the goblins away, those terror mongers who prey on the ignorant - those who lack information. A conversation with a doctor augmented by some research may reveal that not everyone benefits from a flu, hepatitis B or smallpox vaccination. It might also reveal that not every physician ingests scary anti-malarials when trekking in the Thai jungle. Some just wear long pants and spray down with Deet.

Risk Within Your Control

What have you been avoiding? Where can you set better boundaries? Who could you love some more? And what's on that list? You know, the one titled "Someday When I Have the Time."

Now you do.

Gina Greenlee writes a twice-monthly column for The Courant. She lives in Hartford. To leave her a comment, please call 860-241-3841. Or e-mail her at gdg70@hotmail.com.

E-mail: gdg70@hotmail.com

Sep 17, 2002
Sep 3, 2002

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Vaccination News Home Page

ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.

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What To Do Instead Of Getting Smallpox Shots