Actually, the “Good Old Days” I remember? Was when I got regularly vaccinated for every disease they had vaccinations for! My Dad was in the Army, so his overseas rotations were generally accompanied by a round of Very Painful Shots for his family.
Which very likely saved my life and the lives of my younger brothers, but you don’t think that when you’re being stabbed in the arm repeatedly by large-bore needles! (I’m amazed at how thin and less painful injections are now, compared to when I was a kid. My wife shares my phobia about getting shots, so I know it wasn’t just me…)
OTOH, I remember when we all got chicken pox - while on vacation! It was considered a “Natural Childhood Disease” back then that gave permanent immunity once you’d had it, so I and my sibs just had to let it run its course, itching profusely and slathered in calamine lotion in a tiny hotel room…
I only discovered fairly recently that it’s “permanent” immunity only lasts a decade or so, and when it comes back its called “Herpes Zoster”! It’s different from Type 1 Herpes which is transmitted through oral contact, or Type 2 which is only transmitted through sex - but of course the only form of Herpes most people know of is transmitted sexually.
When I mentioned the story of Olivia Dahl to my wife, she pointed out “just getting measles” had left her legally blind (20:400 uncorrected vision!) - when she got back to school, she couldn’t even read the blackboard, let alone books, without glasses.
