Anti-Vaxxers

 ANTI-VAXXERS ARE NOTHING NEW!

Vaccines are on the way to combat Covid-19, but there is a chorus of naysayers who will not submit to the shots. This is nothing new. A story from Ransom County, more specifically Owego Township, tells about the winter of 1884 when smallpox broke out. One family named Knutson suffered the first tragic deaths from the outbreak when two of their four children died. As a result a doctor came from Fargo to administer vaccinations to everyone in the community. The thought of a long needle inserted into the arm did not appeal to everyone. The wife of one settler refused it and hid herself thinking the doctor would soon leave. But her husband became adamant and said, “Katerina, you must come down! The doctor is here and he says you must get ‘waxmenated.’” After much coaxing she finally relented. This is not to make fun of the foreign- accented mispronunciation of the procedure. The area was heavily settled with immigrants, and it is how the historical report comes to us.