I wholeheartedly agree with Devi Sridhar’s concern about dwindling childhood protection from infectious diseases (In a sceptical era, understand this: vaccines do work - and our children need them, 27 March). Coming from a small hamlet near Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, I developed measles, mumps, then whooping cough in rapid succession on starting primary school. I spent most of my first four months off school. I was fortunate to join a long queue and receive my first polio vaccine.
In 1966, when I was a medical student, my father was appointed to manage the only British Polio Fellowship residential home in the country. I was horrified to find young people there with severe paralysis from the waist down, wholly dependent on carers. There were older residents too, many with grossly swollen ankles. They shared ghastly stories of life in an iron lung during their initial recovery and the anger of their plight now.
