These days there seems to be more and more stories about children not receiving vaccinations although all of the medical evidence points to vaccinations being safe and not causing autism in children. There was a study from the United Kingdom that stated vaccines did cause autism but that study turned out to be trash. Yet with today’s Internet connections to anything whether true or not people still believe that study. Seems to me when I was a young child and starting school if I wasn’t vaccinated I couldn’t attend school. Maybe I should be sad that my parents said it was OK for me to be vaccinated against everything except stupidity.

Today I continue to receive the immunizations I need from the VA medical clinic I go to in Portland. I was glad to receive the vaccination that can prevent Shingles, which I have had once and I certainly hope that I never have again. The shot isn’t 100-percent effective for everyone but it can still lessen the severity just like receiving a flu shot does for the flu.

I didn’t receive flu shots for 20 years or so because I received the Asian A, Asian B and swine flu shots back when they contained a live virus. Yep, I caught the flu big time and I was so sick that I could have cared less what kind of flu I contracted. That I was sick as a dog is putting it far too mildly. Nowadays I receive an annual flu shot and I am glad I do.

When I attended basic training in the Army at Fort Dix, N.J., I had more needles stuck in me than I can remember. Those shots were necessary because I more than likely, and did, go to Vietnam where all kinds of diseases were rampant, including two strains of malaria that we took pills to fight off. I caught recurring malaria and probably wouldn’t be here today if I hadn’t taken any pills at all. But I’ll be honest and state that I watched a recent travel show where it was recommended to start taking anti-malarial medications prior to leaving the United States and don’t take them for a protracted length of time. That’s scary because I took both pills for a year. I wish that I could find my military shot record book because I can’t remember how many vaccinations and booster shots I received or what most were even for, but I do remember yellow fever and cholera, a couple diseases I am glad to not have had.

What’s scary is when one sees an outbreak of measles centered in Disneyland or an increase of whooping cough (also known as pertussis) in Maine and then see how many children don’t receive all or some of the vaccinations available to prevent the spread of these diseases. It’s scary and unnecessary. I was shocked to hear that some Maine schools have as many as 20 percent of children that are not vaccinated. I was also shocked to look online to see that many parents still believe that bogus study that vaccinations harm their children. Other parents believe the diseases like polio, whooping cough, measles and other diseases no longer exist in the United States. Some are making a comeback and it’s easy enough to see why.

It must for horrible for those who have a weakened or compromised immune system to go out and about or even attend school knowing that deadly diseases could be lurking because of children lacking vaccinations. I went to the Portland Press website to look up what the vaccination rates were in my area. Oops, the Windham Elementary School had no information available but Raymond did. With the many high salaries paid to the school administrators in RSU 14 it would be nice to know if any intelligence was being passed to the children and parents as well. Guess we’ll know if or when an outbreak of a contagious disease hits Windham.

Lane Hiltunen of Windham has driven through its Granite Canyon (River Road and Windham Center Road).