Texas schools require immunizations against preventable diseases and most of what’s required will be given before students enroll in Kindergarten.

As this school year starts, the country continues to see contagious illnesses spread.

First- and second-graders line up for Salk Polio vaccine shots on April 23, 1955. Regardless of where anyone stands on the matter, we know that vaccinations have been protecting us from diseases for decades. In 1921, the United States recorded 206,000 cases, which resulted in 15,520 deaths, according to the History of Vaccines website. According to the CDC, polio was once one of the most feared diseases in the U.S. Since 1979, there have been no polio cases that originated in the U.S.

HOUSTON – Memorial Hermann hospital has a special connection to polio survivors and wanted to ensure they were high on its list of patients to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. The hospital first began treating polio survivors in the 1950′s and 1960′s, according to Dr. Gerard Francisco, chief medical officer at TIRR Memorial Hermann/ UTHealth. “Either because they got the polio before the vaccine was developed or when the vaccine was developed, they did not have access to it.”The TIRR post-polio clinic now treats polio survivors, like Rhonda Young of Kingwood. AdFull Screen Full Screen 1 / 6 Historical photos of polio patients being treated in the 1950s at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston. AdDr. Francisco said polio survivors were among some of the hospital’s first patients vaccinated against COVID-19.