Polio in the US seems like such an illness of the past, something that is not even relevant in our minds today. Vaccines have done such a good job of erasing the horrors that polio does to one’s body that most people have no recollection of what it even looks like. However, this is not the case in many other parts of the world, the countries Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria, where polio is still endemic. Polio wreaks havoc on the body, paralyzing the respiratory muscles so that one can no longer breathe on their own. The iron lung seems a thing of the past, but it very much still impacts people in those 3 countries today.
The polio vaccine was first developed in the mid 1950s, which consisted of inactivated virus particles, called IPV. This lowered the rate of disease but required a series of injections for maximum protection against the virus. Then in 1961, the OPV vaccine became available, consisting of attenuated strains. It was much cheaper to administer, but the attenuated viruses could mutate to become virulent. However, it had an advantage over the IPV, inducing better mucosal immunity and preventing the virus from being transmitted in feces. Despite the risk of it becoming virulent, it is only one case in every 2.4 million doses and can protect against being transmitted in a population. Thus, it serves much better as a vaccine in preventing the spread of polio.
Now lets talk about occurrences in Nigeria and Pakistan. In Nigeria there is a campaign to vaccinate all children in the country, as children are more vulnerable to infection. They are given the OPV vaccine, and I think it’s a good thing that people are willing to get vaccines for their children. They realize the bigger risk here, which is polio and want to protect their children. In my opinion, it is important to realize that the biggest threat is not the vaccine itself, it’s the disease that it prevents. However, not everyone in Pakistan realizes this. Recently, a Pakistan officer assigned to escort a polio vaccination team was killed. Attacks like this occur quite frequently in Pakistan, and health workers are often victims of attack too. The Taliban has painted vaccines as an Western campaign trying to sterilize children, and people live in fear of these vaccines. Health workers just trying to do their jobs risk death every day. This kind of misinformation is what is killing children, not vaccines.
Fluffy Cows 