You just stepped off a plane from a restful trip overseas–one you spent exploring new cities, cultures, and wildlife. Too bad, it’s time to head back to work and real life after this much-needed time away.
It’s been a little over a week, and you’ve developed a nasty cold with a high fever. Since you feel miserable, you decide to stay home.
Your friend calls and offers to bring you some chicken noodle soup, which you decide sounds nice. He comes, hands you the soup and some acetaminophen to bring down the fever, but it does no good. Your friend leaves, and you roll over to sleep off the fever.
Now you’ve come down with diarrhea, and as you pass the bathroom mirror, you notice your eyes–red and watery. Pink eye? How did that happen? This whole thing is getting grosser by the minute. You’re not sure about the whole pink eye thing, so you head to the walk-in clinic for some drops.
The doctor looks you over. It’s standard procedure to check your ears, nose, and throat with cold-like symptoms. She quickly backs away, looking concerned.
What’s going on?
She grabs a mask and washes her hands, then cracks the door and yells for another doctor to come in. They whisper, and he grabs a mask and gloves before asking to look in your throat.
So many questions. Have you been overseas? Where have you been? Who have you been around? Are you fully vaccinated?
You aren’t sure if you are fully vaccinated. Didn’t your parents take care of this over thirty-five years ago? You’ve never even given it a thought.
Why?