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  • Newsweek

    ‘Absolutely Ridiculous’

    Sep 09, 2022 5 minutes
    by ITZHAK PERLMAN

    I HAD POLIO IN 1949 WHEN I WAS 4 YEARS old. The first polio vaccine wasn’t issued until 1955, so I missed it by a few years. One morning, I got up and tried to stand, and I couldn’t. I knew there was something wrong. At that time, my parents did not know there was a polio epidemic. Of course, after a couple of days, they discovered what was happening.

    I only remember lying down and looking out the window at the sun. It was always the same view day in and day out. And at one point, doctors performed a spinal tap—that was painful.

    I was only in the hospital in Tel Aviv for a few weeks, after which my life completely changed. Before polio, I played with toys and I loved to ride a

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