The Polio Vaccine Myth: “The Vaccine Stopped Polio”

Polio was a feared disease in the mid 1900′s. The disease touched many people around the world and created a great deal of fear when it was talked about. It is not surprising when you look at some of the effects polio placed on some patients. There eventually was a decline in polio cases and it created quite a debate about whether or not it was a natural decline or another vaccine success.

Whenever vaccine doubt begins to surface there is often a common response: “Look at the success of the Polio vaccine when there was Polio outbreaks in the late 40′s and early 50′s.” However, scientific data can quickly show a different story that we must take into consideration when carefully analyzing what actually stopped Polio.

The Pertussis Polio vaccine was implemented in the 1940′s and 50′s and many believed it to be the cause of the decrease in Polio cases, including the reason behind why we do not see Polio cases today. Is this the real reason why Polio has dissapeared?

First let’s understand a bit about Polio and how “dangerous” it really is. the following is stated in a paper written by Dr. Sheri Tenpenny, one of the leading researchers of vaccine safety and effectiveness.

“Polioviruses are transient inhabitants of the gastrointestinal tract. Up to 95% of all polio infections are completely asymptomatic. Approximately 5% of polio infections consist of a minor, nonspecific illness consisting of an upper respiratory tract infection (sore throat and fever) and gastrointestinal disturbances (nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea). This influenza-like illness, clinically indistinguishable from the myriad of other viral illnesses, is characterized by complete recovery in less than a week with resultant life time immunity. Less than 1% of all polio infections result in paralysis. Most importantly, the vast majority of individuals who contract paralytic poliomyelitis recover with complete—or near complete—return of muscle function. Any weakness that is still present 12 months after onset of paralysis is usually considered permanent.“

Off the top it first appears as though we may have been misled about how dangerous Polio really is. When Polio outbreaks were happening in the late 50′s and early 60′s, many of the adverse effects were due to the lack of clean conditions. The truth is over 90% of the cases where people contracted Polio, the symptoms experienced were very minute. Most symptoms included a slight fever, headache, sore throat, and vomiting. The recovery time was 24 – 72 hrs. Once recovered, the person now has a life time immunity to Polio. 5% of people who contracted Polio had less symptoms and recovery time was much less. They would see some sore throat and possibly a fever. Rare cases saw diarrhea. Then we get to 3% of people who had a bit more extreme cases where they may have seen some limb weakness and partial paralysis that would be experienced for 2 – 10 days. This only happened when areas of the brain that controlled limbs were irritated by a form of viral meningitis. All cases saw a complete recovery and life long immunity. Now we get to the worst cases of them all. Less than 2% of cases saw some form of more serious paralysis. Of that 2% though 50% saw complete recovery over time from the paralysis.

As you really begin to look at the numbers, the amount of very serious cases is actually a very very small number. Yet when we hear the word Polio today, we tend to think of an extremely dangerous illness that causes certain paralysis. This is very much similar to AIDS in that fear drives us to act in and think in ways that is worse than the actuality of the disease itself. It also seems to be the case that the fear and emotion around the disease is so strong that we have a hard time truly looking at it logically.

Let’s move onto how Polio declined and how it relates to the vaccine. Why not start with a statement of fact that will set the tone for what will be looked at below.

In 1977, Dr Jonas Salk, who developed the first polio vaccine, testified along with other scientists that mass inoculation against polio was the cause of most polio cases throughout the USA since 1961. (Science 4/4/77 “Abstracts” )

The above statement states the truth of the vaccine in a nutshell. The Polio vaccine only increased the amount of cases of Polio when it was introduced and it had no part in actually creating a decline in the disease. The decline was happening naturally and the vaccine was introduced on a down turn of Polio cases. While the introduction of the vaccine created a spike in cases, overall the disease continued to decline. Especially in countries that did not introduce the vaccine. This is strong evidence showing that the Polio vaccine is not responsible for the decline and should negate the belief and statement that the Polio vaccine demonstrates vaccine success. Below, see research that reflects what it stated above.

Six New England states reported increases in polio one year after the Salk vaccine was introduced, ranging from more than doubling in Vermont to Massachusetts’ astounding increase of 642%; other states reported increases as well. The incidence in Wisconsin increased by a factor of five. Idaho and Utah actually halted vaccination due to the increased incidence and death rate. In 1959, 77.5% of Massachusetts’ paralytic cases had received 3 doses of IPV (injected polio vaccine). During 1962 U.S. Congressional hearings, Dr. Bernard Greenberg, head of the Dept. of Biostatistics for the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, testified that not only did the cases of polio increase substantially after mandatory vaccinations—a 50% increase from 1957 to 1958, and an 80% increase from 1958 to 1959—but that the statistics were deliberately manipulated by the Public Health Service to give the opposite impression.(52) It is important to understand that the polio vaccine was not universally accepted, at least initially. Despite this, polio declined both in European countries that refused mass vaccination as well as in those that employed it.

One final piece of information that is important to note is that the Polio vaccine used had traces of the SV 40 virus which is directly linked to the creation of cancer within the body. Speculatively, one of the main purposes behind vaccines is to inject the population with ‘codes’ that open the body up to the ability to contract diseases much more easily. The science behind vaccinations has long been proven to be completely ineffective and the continued use of vaccines only shows the real purpose behind them.

One step we can all take to not subject anyone to vaccines is by simply not getting them anymore and education others. For parents of newborn children, be sure to read the following article to find out how to legally get out of “mandatory” vaccinations. Not a single vaccine is necessary in any human body.
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2012/02/08/choice-vaccinations/

Sources:
The MERCK Manual
Dr. Sheri Tenpenny (various sources)

http://www.naturalnews.com/027203_vaccination_health_vaccines.html#ixzz1mlHAErTL

http://www.whale.to/v/phillips.html#VACCINATION%20MYTH%20#6

Written by, Joe Martino

The article The Polio Vaccine Myth: “The Vaccine Stopped Polio” published by TheSleuthJournal – Real News Without Synthetics