Should Your Child Still Have A Polio Shot?

There was a time in the United States in the middle of the 20th century when the disease known as Poliomyelitis was a real fear. Polio is an infectious disease. It is a virus that usually enters the body through the throat and or the intestinal tract and spreads through person to person contact with oral and nasal secretions. In its mildest forms it would usually show flu like symptoms and probably lay you out for about the better part of 10 days after which one would recover. This is what occurred in most cases. In its most severe form it would lead to paralysis and death. This result would occur in about 1% of those afflicted. Perhaps its most famous victim was Franklin Roosevelt who acquired the disease about 10 years before he became president and lost his ability to walk. By 1949 the disease had reached it zenith in the U.S. with over 42,000 cases reported that year. With the introduction of the Polio vaccine by Doctor Jonas Salk in 1955 the occurrences of the illness declined quickly over time and was nearly wiped out in only one generation. By 1979 the number of annual cases in the U.S. has dwindled to only 8. From 1980 - 2006 there had been only 2 confirmed cases of the disease. It has for all practical purposes been wiped out in the United States. Yet despite this fact nearly every child born in America is still vaccinated against a disease that no longer poses a serious threat. Over 95% of new Born's are given the Polio vaccine today. Some have questioned why this is the case considering that Polio is all but gone from the American landscape. Some have suggested that the answer to the question is money. Depending on where you live a Polio vaccine shot can cost anywhere from $25 - $85 each and that 4 shots are "suggested" before the age of 6 for a new baby. Some have stated the belief that continuing to "recommend" to new parents that their babies be protected with these shots rakes in billions for the pharmaceutical industry annually. Usually when a war is won what happens next naturally is that you stop fighting. Polio has been beaten in the United States yet big pharma is still acting like we are in the middle of the Polio war and that there is no end in sight because it serves its economic interests to do so and say so. Of course whether a new parent decides to vaccinate their new child against this disease is a totally personal choice that should be left up to the parents and there is nothing wrong with preferring to be safe rather than sorry. To many it seems like a case of overkill to vaccinate over 95% of the children born in the U.S. against a disease that has shown only 2 confirmed cases since 1980.