In the fifties, the spectre of an iron lung was every parent's fear--it was the physical manifestion of polio.

I actually remember this image, though dimly, from a time when public swimming pools used to be closed when there were outbreaks of polio; when children were condemned to lives inside these cumbersome, but lifesaving devices.

Even with all the problems associated with early polio vaccines, of which I am a recipient, the benefits I believe outweigh the risks.

Those who challenge the benefits of vaccination should do well to attempt to remember the days of the iron lung, and the days when the clear and present danger of disease could not be warded off with just saying no.