Nothing New Under The Sun

T here was a time when we needed a bronze bearing to fix a starter on a 1960 Ford.  My grandfather and I went to an auto parts store with the old bearing he had hammered out of the starter, looking for a replacement,  They didn't have one, and the parts guy and my grandfather tried to match it from existing stock.

Finally my grandfather said to the parts guy, "Bring me one from a 1952 Studebaker."  The guy did, and it was exactly the correct diameter and thickness, but twice as long as we needed.

Grandpa cut it down in his shop and we fixed the starter in the Ford.  It took a maser mechanic to know what to ask for.

We learn today that an ancient vaccine might help in the fight against Covid-19.  The old polio vaccine that we all took as kids.

In addition to protecting against polio by inducing antibodies that kill the virus, OPV activates other protective mechanisms, including an innate immune system, thus making people resistant to infections caused by other viruses and bacteria. For example, in large scale multicenter clinical trials conducted in the 1970s during outbreaks of seasonal influenza, OPV protected more people from influenza than most flu vaccines do. Furthermore, observational studies in many countries suggested that the hospitalization rate and the overall mortality among children immunized with OPV were consistently lower compared with unimmunized children, even in the absence of poliovirus in communities.

This is good news, but I thought medical doctors were smart people  Sometimes you have to use all the tools in your box, and  if there is a special tool that you've only used once, it might be a good idea to remember it's in the box.

Faster, please.