Jane Salisbury, pictured below right, a retired librarian who lives in the Portland area, shared her vaccine experience:

I was born in 1953, and polio was terrifying for people in those years. I was sick as a child, hospitalized more than once, and my parents told me later that those were the hardest years of their lives, to see their child in danger. They saw children with polio in the hospital when I was there, and never forgot it.

I was a young child when the oral polio vaccine was invented and everyone rejoiced in my small town. We lined up at the high school and crunched down our little sugar cubes and went home feeling happy. Our generation did not escape measles, mumps and rubella, but our children did. And no one had smallpox.

I got my COVID-19 vaccine appointment through the grapevine. The word went out that Safeway had doses, I signed up when I was eligible in early March and got my first shot at the Safeway on MLK in Portland.

I felt nothing after the first shot, and a mild flu-ish feeling for a day and a half after the second shot. The side effects were no different than an ordinary flu shot. 

We have all been enormously fortunate to escape these horrible illnesses, solely because of vaccinations. I am alive because of vaccinations. That is why it never crossed my mind not to be vaccinated for COVID-19. 

Share your vaccine story with us by filling out our survey, either in English or Spanish, or by using the hashtags #MyVaccineReason or #MiVozMiVacuna when you share on your social media channels. As we learn more about when and where vaccinations are available, information will continue to be posted at covidvaccine.oregon.gov and vacunacovid.oregon.gov. 

This article first appeared in the April 15, 2021 issue of Oregon Coronavirus Update.