Janet Golden, PhD, for the Philadelphia Inquirer in an article published on their August 16, 2016 edition and entitled "Let's honor Elvis and the lives he saved by supporting vaccines.

The day that Elvis died, Aug. 16, 1977 was a pretty big deal. Not as well remembered was Oct. 28, 1956, the day that he got a polio shot. The event, staged at CBS studios by the New York City health department, made the national television evening news and the New York Times. Photos suggest that he was having a blast. The New York City health department arranged for the public inoculation in order to encourage adolescents — the group most susceptible to polio after young children — to get their shots. Only a very low percent of the city's teenagers had received the newly licensed Salk vaccine. I'd like to think that if Elvis were still with us he'd be getting an HPV shot — vaccination rates for the cancer-causing human papilloma virus are among the lowest of recommended vaccines — and tweeting about it. But he has left the stage. Instead of Elvis posing for a shot we have celebrities caught up in the trap of unscientific thinking promoting vaccine refusal last year. This is not a red-blue issue: Green Party candidate Jill Stein is a vaccine skeptic as well. If that irrational fear-based movement continues to gain ground and data-driven medical science and advances that can save lives are ignored, we'll watching people get sick or even die from preventable diseases. Luckily, the movement has a way to go in the United States.. August is National Immunization Awareness Month, a good time to check that you and your family are up to date on vaccine coverage/ According to a survey conducted in 2014, and published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 87.6% to teenagers were up-to-date with the Tdap (tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis) vaccine and 60% had meningitis vaccine coverage. The rate for HPV vaccine, which requires 3 doses, was lower, perhaps because of its cost or opposition to the inoculations on the grounds that the way to avoid a sexually transmitted disease is to abstain from sex. HPV is transmitted sexually and the vaccine can prevent most genital warts and most cases of cervical cancer, which is projected to kill 4,120 women in 2016. Young men and women who get the vaccine also can dramatically lower their risk of some anal and oral cancers, which are on the rise. I miss Elvis, the King of Vaccines.

— Janet Golden

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "The day that Elvis died, Aug. 16, 1977 was a pretty big deal. Not as well remembered was Oct. 28, 1956, the day that he got a polio shot. The event, staged at CBS studios by the New York City health department, made the national television evening news and the New York Times. Photos suggest that he was having a blast. The New York City health department arranged for the public inoculation in order to encourage adolescents — the group most susceptible to polio after young children — to get their shots. Only a very low percent of the city's teenagers had received the newly licensed Salk vaccine. I'd like to think that if Elvis were still with us he'd be getting an HPV shot — vaccination rates for the cancer-causing human papilloma virus are among the lowest of recommended vaccines — and tweeting about it. But he has left the stage. Instead of Elvis posing for a shot we have celebrities caught up in the trap of unscientific thinking promoting vaccine refusal last year. This is not a red-blue issue: Green Party candidate Jill Stein is a vaccine skeptic as well. If that irrational fear-based movement continues to gain ground and data-driven medical science and advances that can save lives are ignored, we'll watching people get sick or even die from preventable diseases. Luckily, the movement has a way to go in the United States.. August is National Immunization Awareness Month, a good time to check that you and your family are up to date on vaccine coverage/ According to a survey conducted in 2014, and published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 87.6% to teenagers were up-to-date with the Tdap (tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis) vaccine and 60% had meningitis vaccine coverage. The rate for HPV vaccine, which requires 3 doses, was lower, perhaps because of its cost or opposition to the inoculations on the grounds that the way to avoid a sexually transmitted disease is to abstain from sex. HPV is transmitted sexually and the vaccine can prevent most genital warts and most cases of cervical cancer, which is projected to kill 4,120 women in 2016. Young men and women who get the vaccine also can dramatically lower their risk of some anal and oral cancers, which are on the rise. I miss Elvis, the King of Vaccines." in the context of "Janet Golden, PhD, for the Philadelphia Inquirer in an article published on their August 16, 2016 edition and entitled "Let's honor Elvis and the lives he saved by supporting vaccines." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Elvis Presley" (Quotes about Elvis Presley: The last names, or first or given names by which people are best known and whose quotes are included below are arranged alphabetically, for ease of reference. When the person being quoted has a royal, or religious title, they can be found by looking for their first or adopted name. Examples: Bhumibol King of Thailand; Elizabeth II Queen of England; Albert II Prince of Monaco; Astrid, Princess of Norway; Deborah Duchess of Devonshire; Pope Benedict XVI ., G) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed February 05, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Elvis Presley

About Elvis Presley

Elvis Aaron Presley (8 January 1935 – 16 August 1977) was an American singer, musician, and actor. Popularly known by his first name as "Elvis," as "The King of Rock and Roll" or simply as "The King," he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century.