Polio – Has it Really Been Defeated?

In 1954, Jonas Salk created an injectable vaccine for polio. By 1955, millions of children in the U.S. were being treated with this vaccine. Many people believe Salk’s vaccine was the heroic vanquisher of polio, but the truth is much more complicated.

What you might not know is that in 1954 (yes, the same year Salk produced his vaccine), the American government actually redefined polio. Before that time, “the patient had to exhibit paralytic symptoms for only 24 hours,” and “laboratory confirmation and the presence of residual paralysis were not required,” while after the redefinition took place, “the patient had to exhibit paralytic symptoms for at least 60 days after the onset of the disease…This change in definition meant that in 1955 we started reporting a new disease, namely, paralytic poliomyelitis with a longer lasting paralysis.”[1]

Suddenly, with these new parameters in mind, the fact that reported cases of polio in the U.S. went from 52,879 in 1952 to 28,985 in 1955 isn’t quite so impressive.[2] Instead, it’s important for us to realize that the polio vaccine wasn’t the true cause of the decreased number of reports; it was simply an administrative choice on the part of the U.S. government.

Even now, India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has reported 18,000 cases of Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP)—which is “Clinically indistinguishable from polio paralysis but twice as deadly”[3]—since January 2015.[4] Although India has been declared “polio-free,” it is experiencing a major increase in non-polio AFP. Doctors have suggested that public health officials look into “the influence of strain shifts of enteropathogens induced by the [polio] vaccine given practically every month.”[5]

And India isn’t alone; though not as many have been reported in the U.S., there are instances of NPAFP occurring here as well. Just last year, there were five reported cases at USC and Stanford of “sudden paralysis of one or more limbs in children ages two to 16—all fully vaccinated against polio—and the California Department of Health began investigating 20 more similar cases.”[6] Just as in India, we have yet to get any answers from our government health officials about this dramatic increase in paralysis in children.

Working to Restore God’s Perfect Design in You!

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[1] James W. Immunization: The Reality Behind the Myth, Volume 3. 1985. p. 36.

[2] The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. “U.S. Polio Cases: 1952-1962.” The History of Vaccines.

[3] Vashisht N, Puliyel J. “Polio programme: let us declare victory and move on.” Indian Journal of Medical Ethics 2012 9(2): 114-117.

[4] “Cases reported from Uttar Pradesh in section of media are of AFP (Acute Flaccid Paralysis), not Polio.” Business Standard June 20, 2015.

² “Govt. says cases reported from UP are of Acute Flaccid Paralysis, not polio.” NetIndian News Network June 20, 2015.

[5] Vashisht N, Puliyel J. “Polio programme: let us declare victory and move on.” Indian Journal of Medical Ethics 2012 9(2): 114-117.

[6] Maron DF. “Is a Wave of Poliolike Symptoms in California Cause for Alarm?” Scientific American Feb. 24, 2014.