![]() ![]() Polio vaccination rates in some areas of the US hover dangerously close to the threshold required for herd immunity – here’s why that matters Oral sex is now the leading risk factor for throat cancer Like this article? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. ![]() A reminder for the American public about this still dangerous disease can help ensure that “Got Polio?” does not become a serious question. I believe pervasive public health messaging can counter anti-vaccination disinformation. In the 21st century U.S., immunization campaigns no longer emphasize these risks, and it’s easy to forget the potentially deadly repercussions of skipping vaccines. Rhetoric from polio vaccine campaigns in the 1950s and 1960s emphasized the risks of not getting immunized – acute illness, life-changing pain and paralysis or even death. Most people in developed countries lack firsthand experiences of just how terrifying these diseases are, having never experienced polio, diphtheria, measles or pertussis, or lost family members to them.Īt the same time that polio has been largely forgotten in the U.S., anti-vaccination messages have been spreading disinformation that distorts the risk of vaccines, ignoring the realities of the diseases they immunize against. of polio and other vaccine-preventable diseases dissipated over generations as vaccinations largely eliminated the risk. Gradually, though, the perceived threat in the U.S. Public health rhetoric that focused on this vaccine success story worked around the world in the late 1980s and 1990s. As of 2021, 92.7% of Americans were fully protected by the vaccine, though these rates have been in decline since 2010 and fluctuate by region. The American public of the 1960s and 1970s had lived through repeated polio epidemics and knew both the fear of contracting the disease and its visible aftereffects. The repeated declaration of what polio vaccines could and were accomplishing was strategically effective in persuading more people to get their shots. With Salk’s vaccine, and then Albert Sabin’s, polio cases fell quickly, from the peak of 57,879 cases in 1952 to only 72 cases in 1965, with the last naturally occurring U.S. Over the next decade, the NFIP shifted its focus to widespread immunization, again using both mass media and local campaigns. Once a vaccine was available, people lined up to protect themselves and their families from the virus. Following the largest vaccine trial in history, on April 12, 1955, the Poliomyelitis Vaccine Evaluation Center announced that Jonas Salk’s vaccine was 80%-90% effective against paralytic polio and officially ready for general use. The work of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis yielded unprecedented and continuous success, providing hospitals with equipment during epidemics and supporting the development of vaccines. News stories covered outbreaks and polio epidemics, detailing the devastation of the disease on individuals, families and communities, while advising families how to reduce risk through the “Polio Pledge for Parents,” which provided a list of do’s and don'ts during summer months. Starting in 1946, the NFIP featured children with crutches and braces who had survived polio as “ poster children” asking for funds to help them walk again. Comic strips and cartoons featuring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck rallied for March of Dimes funds to help polio patients. Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Lucille Ball and other Hollywood stars also joined the fight. The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis generated scores of radio scripts and hired Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and other famous voices to read them. Brochures and short films raised awareness of the threat of polio, emphasizing the need for funding to support patient rehabilitation and scientific research. An ad placed in Vogue in 1952 laid out the ‘Polio Pledge.’ National Foundation for Infantile ParalysisĬampaigns used every medium.
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