Polio, a highly contagious viral infection that can cause paralysis and death, was eradicated in Canada decades ago thanks to widespread vaccination efforts.
However, recent comments – including those by US President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and his lawyer – are amplifying claims questioning the safety of vaccines against measles, mumps and rubella, as well as polio.
Both have been used safely for decades around the world by millions of people.
Aaron Seery, an attorney advising Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in 2022 he asked The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revokes its approval of the current polio vaccine, But the petition It has gained renewed attention in recent weeks after Kennedy was named Trump’s health secretary.
In the petition letter, Serry urged the FDA to withdraw or suspend the polio vaccine, alleging that the original clinical trials lacked control groups and long-term safety monitoring and thus failed to meet federal safety standards.
However, the polio vaccine he mentioned, IPOL, has undergone extensive clinical trialsincluding control groups. Regulatory bodies such as Food and Drug Administration It approved the vaccine based on strong evidence.
Kennedy is also a vaccine skeptic, and recently said he might investigate vaccines that he claims are linked to autism, a theory that has long been debunked.
His comments, coupled with the continued spread of vaccine skepticism, have sparked increased interest on Google. This increase in curiosity is reflected in the emergence of distinct Google search terms, including queries such as “what is polio?”, “polio vaccine approved,” and “does polio still exist?”
Amid this increase in curiosity, Trump commented on the issue, telling reporters on Monday: “Nothing is going to happen quickly,” when it comes to the polio vaccine.
“Bobby is a very rational man, and you’re not going to lose the polio vaccine,” he told reporters. “I have friends who were greatly affected, and they are still not doing well because of it.”
As rhetoric about vaccines continues to spread from the United States, Dr. Christopher Labus, a cardiologist and epidemiologist based in Montreal, fears growing vaccine hesitancy could lead to a resurgence of polio.
“The more doubt there is in people’s minds about the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine, the more vaccine rates will start to decline,” he said. “It won’t take much to get us below the critical threshold where we start to see more and more polio outbreaks both in the United States and in this country.” “Country.”
“If we start going back to the days of constant community spread of polio, we will see more people contracting the disease. We will see more children with paralysis, and we will see deaths,” Lapus added.
Polio is a highly contagious viral disease caused by the polio virus.
It primarily affects children under the age of five, but can also affect adults. The virus spreads through person-to-person contact, often through contaminated food, water or surfaces, and can attack the nervous system, according to the World Health Organization.
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While many people infected with the virus experience mild or no symptoms, others develop more serious complications, including permanent disability. In severe cases, polio can lead to paralysis, muscle weakness and, in some cases, death.
Throughout the early twentieth century, polio outbreaks began to occur more regularly, especially in the summer months, when cities would see large numbers of cases. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Little was known about how the disease spread, leading to closed summer pools and empty playgrounds as parents tried to protect their children from contracting the disease.
Many children who contracted the disease faced serious, long-term consequences, including paralysis and the need for life-saving devices such as an iron lung to assist with breathing.
But once widespread and devastating, polio has seen a 99 percent decline in cases worldwide since 1988, thanks to a global push for vaccination and efforts to eradicate the disease.
Since 1994, Canada has been free of the virus.
To date, the polio virus remains endemic in only two countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan.
According to the report, “Until transmission of poliovirus is halted in these countries, all countries remain at risk of importing polio, especially vulnerable countries with weak public health and immunization services and travel or trade links with endemic countries.” Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
What we know about the polio vaccine
There is no cure for polio. It can only be prevented.
The first successful vaccine was developed in the 1950s by Jonas Salk, whose inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) was introduced to the general public in 1955 and became a cornerstone of global efforts to eradicate the disease.
The polio vaccine, given several times, can protect a child for life.
There are two types of vaccines available: oral polio vaccine (OPV) and IPV.
Both are safe and effective, and are used in different combinations around the world, depending on local epidemiological factors, to provide the best possible protection for the population, according to reports from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
Polio is part of the routine vaccination schedule in Canada and is given to infants as part of a combination vaccine. It’s called DTaP-IPV-Hib-HB and it protects against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), and hepatitis C.
Like the IPOL vaccine in the United States, it is also IPV. The vaccine is usually given in multiple doses during the first few years of life to ensure long-term protection against the disease.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, The polio vaccine protects against severe disease caused by the polio virus in almost everyone who has received all recommended doses. Two doses of IPV provide at least 90 percent protection. Three doses of IPV provide at least 99% protection. The most common side effect is arm pain after the injection.
“The injected vaccine does not have any major side effects,” Dr. Peter Salk, Jonas Salk’s son, told Global News.
“In very rare cases, someone might be allergic to one of the ingredients, which is one of the antibiotics used to keep things sterile. Otherwise… the drug is a really safe vaccine,” Salk said.
Fears of the emergence of polio amid doubts about the vaccine
Last week, US Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who had polio as a child, said any of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees seeking Senate confirmation should “stay away” from efforts to discredit the polio vaccine. .
“Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven treatments are not just ignorant — they are dangerous,” McConnell said in a statement on Friday.
Labus agreed and asked.
Salk, a professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, explained that the public’s fear of serious diseases has diminished over time, as the terrifying effects of polio have faded from memory.
“Polio, whooping cough…those are not widespread at this point because of the vaccines. Back in the 1950s, parents were terrified of polio. Now the fear of infectious diseases is not as high and people are vulnerable to the thought, “Why do we want to keep vaccinating our children?” “”
He said: “We want to continue vaccinating children because diseases can return, as happened with measles and whooping cough.”
Countries like Canada and the United States have eradicated polio through vaccination efforts, and abandoning those efforts could lead to a resurgence of the virus, Labus said.
Even if the polio vaccine remains widely available, he said, if officials convince enough people not to get vaccinated, polio will come back.
“I’m a little concerned because this whole anti-vaccine rhetoric has gained traction in recent years, gained legitimacy by the fact that Robert Kennedy might become head of the Department of Health and Human Services. It’s a very big problem because we know that vaccines work,” Lapus said.
Lapus explained that cases of polio are still showing up in Canada due to international travel. People may catch the virus outside and bring it back, as it can spread in small pockets, especially in areas where there are unvaccinated individuals.
However, these outbreaks can be controlled because most people have been vaccinated, providing a level of protection.
He warned that if vaccination rates fell below a critical threshold, the population would not have sufficient immunity to prevent widespread transmission of the disease, and polio could become permanently present.
“If the number of people vaccinated starts to drop below 80 percent, there is a very real chance that we will start to see polio spreading in the community again,” Labus warned.
—With files from Amanda Connolly of Global News and the Associated Press
