John never knew his secretary had thoughts of her own

John, like most, figured he would get his “tetanus shot” the next time he broke a bone or hurt himself. Little did he know that the tiny scratch that he got jumping over a barbed wire fence on his “ranch experience family vacation” would be so catastrophic.

“If there is a silver lining to this, it’s that the severe tightening in my face muscles made it impossible to talk over my staff. Tetanus made me a better listener. Unfortunately, it also caused multiple fractures along my spine.”

John’s case of tetanus, fortunately, was not one of the 10-20% that, even with modern intensive care, prove fatal. But it still might turn into blood clots in the lung and pneumonia if he’s unlucky.

“I don’t know what’s in the Tdap vaccine. I also didn’t know what’s in that rusty barbed wire that I scraped down my shin.”

While not strictly a straight disease, the vaccine preventing these illnesses is at risk of low adoption alongside other vaccines that were once considered standard and non-controversial, such as Polio and Measles.