Category: efficacy

Polio and smallpox: vaccines saved us!!

Inevitably, this is the first reason brought up in conversation to explain why vaccines are essential. The image immediately conjured up is of iron lungs and calipers on poor defenseless children in a hideous epidemic. The vaccines of Sabin and Salk supposedly led us to freedom  from this dreaded illness. 

Yes, okay, if you are reading this, it is most likely that you have reservations about this version of medical history proving  vaccines are safe, effective and the foundation of modern health.  How often have you walked away from the ensuing conversation, if any, feeling satisfied you have clearly and succinctly communicated your own viewpoint?

Frankly, my experience has been one of frustration that there is much to say and yet most people have very little time or patience to hear anything that goes against the dominant narrative around polio and smallpox vaccines.

What to do next time? I will make a short, succinct reply. A soundbite with a salient point of discussion. A seed of another possibility.

I will be open to their view, their response, their feelings.

 

Points of discussion:

1. Polio is generally just a mild respiratory illness.

2. Intramuscular injections of antibiotics to counter pneumonia appeared to cause paralysis.

3. Inoculations of live polio caused paralysis, which is why they changed to an oral polio vaccine (OPV) by a spoon or sugar cube. 

4. Polio never went away. It was redefined as ‘acute flaccid paralysis‘ , Guillian Barre Syndrome etc.                          

5. After mass vaccination, diagnosis of polio was changed from an upper respiratory illness to a paralysis greater than 60 days, making many polio diagnoses disappear. 

6. Before this reclassification, polio was just a flu-like illness and paralysis was quite rare.

7. Polio has not been eradicated, particularly from poorer countries, and is now predominantly ‘vaccine-derived polio’.

8. The vaccine was introduced after the incidence of polio deaths had dramatically declined.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

 

In  a nutshell, its quite simple. Anyone of these points is a potential opener for discussion.

 

 

The fear surrounding these dreadful images is  a barrier to logical and evidence based discussion.  There is no denying that many suffered severely.

We are easily trapped in the polarity of an  ‘I am right and you are wrong’ paradigm when discussing mass vaccination, and the use of coercion.  Respect for different views and those who hold them while standing in our own view is all we can do.

Further resources:

Is Polio Eradication by Vaccine a Myth?

HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT: The Pioneering Work of FREDERICK ROBERT KLENNER, M.D.