Last week, she asked her mother if she had received the vaccine.

Her mother sent her a picture of her vaccine records and a less pressing reminder that she had mail.

Some Americans felt the need to take stock of their immunizations after health officials reported a case of the disease in a New York suburb. You were not alone if you reached out to parents and guardians for the first time.

There was a conversation going on in the United States.

Tyler's mother received a few text messages recently about her son's vaccine status. The first thing to do was to find out if Mr.Edwards had received the vaccine. The man had not. She sent him his old vaccine card as proof that he had been given the vaccine after he reached out again.

"I knew I had some vaccines, but I didn't know for sure," said Mr.Edwards, who received his monkeypox vaccine. It was a good feeling.

The confirmation gave Ms. Tynan a sigh of relief. She had to stay in the basement of her parents' house for two weeks after testing positive for the coronaviruses.

After they thought they had figured out how to fight off one disease, many younger generations have been surprised by the threat of more. After a successful vaccine campaign in the 1950's, the disease was largely eradicated in the United States, even though many older Americans still think of it as a disease with terrible consequences.

According to Dr. William Moss, director of the International Vaccine Access Center, there is a reason we don't fearPolio anymore. One of the challenges of vaccines is that you prevent a disease and it goes away, but people don't remember why it went away.

The first outbreak of the disease in the United States occurred in Vermont in 1894 and left 18 people dead. The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis was started by Franklin D. Roosevelt, who later became known as the March of Dimes. The organization was involved in vaccine trials and clinics.

The first vaccine for the disease was introduced in 1953. After the vaccine was licensed, images of Americans in leg braces and wheelchairs were replaced with mass vaccinations in school gymnasiums. Elvis posed for a picture while in New York City to get the vaccine.

ImageElvis Presley receiving a Salk polio vaccine shot in New York City on Oct. 28, 1956.
Elvis Presley receiving a Salk polio vaccine shot in New York City on Oct. 28, 1956. Credit...AP Photo/File
Elvis Presley receiving a Salk polio vaccine shot in New York City on Oct. 28, 1956.

In the 1960s to the 1990s, the United States switched to an oral vaccine, which was more convenient to administer. There was an oral vaccine that contained live polioviruses. It's still considered safe and effective, but in rare instances, the weakened vaccine can cause a paralysis-causing form that can be passed on to other people who aren't vaccine-vaccinated. The United States went back to the highly effective shot after the rare side effect.

If you were born in the U.S., you're likely to have received a vaccine. All 50 states and the District of Columbia require children entering child care or public schools to have certain immunizations. A four-dose regimen is now recommended by the C.D.C.

Many young people found themselves whispering their unknown status on social media after three years of managing their coronaviruses status.

Dr. Moss said that people who received vaccines decades ago shouldn't worry. The C.D.C. is considering whether or not to recommend a booster shot to high-risk individuals, but for the time being, it only applies to people who come into regular contact with patients in the US or abroad.

He said that people should not be concerned. People who have received at least three doses of the vaccine should not be concerned.

The children of Dr. Moss haven't reached out to check on their vaccinations. He has heard from family members in the New York suburb where the case was found. He told them that they should not drink the wastewater because of the vaccine requirement.