Ask Dr. Hall: 3 Questions About Vaccinations Through History

We are now on the verge of witnessing the most widespread distribution of a vaccination in our modern times. In fact, the anticipated COVID-19 vaccination, if successful, will most certainly be one of the most widely distributed in the history of mankind.

The thought of such an epic moment in history added some wonderment to my mind on Tuesday as I pondered the sheer magnitude of the task at hand: developing a successful vaccine for COVID-19 in about a year and then as efficiently as possible, delivering throughout the entire planet. What a feat!

Dr. Kent Hall is the Chief Physician Executive at Mohawk Valley Health Services in Utica and since the pandemic began, he answers our COVID questions almost on a daily basis. On Tuesday morning, I asked him three questions about previous outbreaks.

1) Have there been other times in our history that we've attempted to vaccinate the entire world?

2) As a kid, before being able to attend elementary school, just like today we had to be vaccinated with a series of shots. One application before being able to attend school wasn't a shot at all. The vaccine was dissolved into a sugar cube. Which vaccination was that?

3) People who went to elementary school in the 60s and 70s have a small round scar just below the top of their shoulder. I recall it was a shot that was delivered by air pressure. Which vaccination was that?

Dr. Hall didn't skip a beat. His answers take about 2 minutes and are in the video below.