Congratulations anti-vaxxers! They said it couldn't be done!!

But you guys wouldn't take no for an answer - you brought POLIO back to the USA! Amazing!!

A young adult male in Rockland County NY, who didn't leave the country, has contracted polio (AKA poliomyelitis). They don't know where he got it, other than from some other infected person. Yes, he's unvaccinated, despite the requirement that all school age children be multiply vaccinated for polio.

He showed up at his doctor's office complaining of weakness and paralysis.

Polio is very contagious, and a person can spread the virus even if they aren't sick. Symptoms, which can be mild and flu-like (fatigue, fever, headache, stiffness, muscle pain, vomiting), can take up to 30 days to appear, during which time an infected individual can be shedding virus to others. Though rare, some polio cases can result in paralysis or death.

In this case, sequencing performed by the Wadsworth Center – NYSDOH's public health laboratory – and confirmed by CDC showed revertant polio Sabin type 2 virus.

https://health.ny.gov/press/releases/2022/2022-07-21_polio_rockland_county.htm

Yes, the paralysis is permanent and irreversible. And it all could have been prevented by a few routine doses of polio vaccine; CDC recommends total of four doses: 2 months old, 4 months old, 6 through 18 months old, and 4 through 6 years old.

Sixty plus years of hard work by doctors and epidemiologists and public health officials is starting to be undone by anti-vaxxers and the misinformation they spread. Lordy lordy, what does it mean when the ignorant spread POLIO in our great land??

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HannibalAteMeOut · 22-25, F

I can't believe this. I know a man in his 60's who had polio, he contracted it when he was a newborn (back then we didn't have the vaccines in my country and babies were getting infected like crazy). He had to be in the hospital his first two years of life, away from his family and now has a paralyzed leg. Every day he thanks god for the vaccines we now have available. And he's one of the very religious and conservative people, but he'd never side with the anti vaxxers. I guess privileged people have to learn the hard way. It makes me sad to say, but no amount of evidence will help them understand, until THEY are the evidence.

hippyjoe1955 · 70-79, M

@HannibalAteMeOut I knew a lot of people who were marred by polio as well. The neighbour across the back alley, a distant cousin and several others. Polio is not a nice disease. However when there is no disease there is a tendency to not get the vaccine. Small pox was erradicated. Does everyone need a vax? Polio has been unheard of for decades. Does everyone need a vax? I have both of mine and I am immune. My children were vaxed against those diseases but the fact that many many people have not been vaxed for the disease speaks much more to the absence of the disease not an anti vax stance. The young fellow got the disease and now his entire neighborhood is getting vaxed? Does that mean that the entire neighborhood is antivax? Not likely. Much more likely that the public health system didn't offer the vax.

HannibalAteMeOut · 22-25, F

@hippyjoe1955 well true I don't know what the USA's vaccine plan is and if this man's family is at fault or the whole system for what happened. Maybe they weren't anti vaxxers in the end but didn't have the means to get the vaccine somehow. Still the anti vax movement has grown when some decades ago that wasn't even an arguement to begin with. The state would send people to visit homes and schools in order to make sure the children were vaccinated and the vaccine plan was enforced in the 80's. If this happened nowadays people would call the government fascist.

hippyjoe1955 · 70-79, M

@HannibalAteMeOut There is a well known epidemiologist who says that he pushed vaccines his entire life and now he is doubting his life's work. Did the vaccines he promoted and pushed actually do what he said? He is not sure. He sometimes thinks that the real reason polio is not as common is because the disease ran its course and people began to live a more sanitary life. I don't agree with him but I found it interesting that an expert in the field would come to that conclusion. That completely aside. The problem is that big pharma is trying to vaccinate the entire world against every disease in the book and as has been shown with the covid vax failing miserably. The covid vax has caused more death and injury than the disease. There are multiple vaccines that have incredibly low effective rates. The annual flu shot can not be shown to have any effect at all on the course of a disease. Those who get the shot still get the disease at the same rate as those who do not get the shot. There was a measles outbreak in my city. The only people who got measles were those who were vaccinated against it. My grandsons were vaccinated against chicken pox. 6 months later they had chicken pox. Hmmm. You don't suppose we are being lied to by big pharma do you?

HannibalAteMeOut · 22-25, F

@hippyjoe1955 do you remember that epidemiologist's name?

All I'm going to comment on the rest is that they're just stories to me. Kinda like autosuggestion, these events usually occur only to the ones that believe in that stuff.

ElwoodBlues · M

@hippyjoe1955

There is a well known epidemiologist who says that he pushed vaccines his entire life and now he is doubting his life's work.

Who? Why not name names here?? Are you afraid of having another of your outlandish claims debunked???

There was a measles outbreak in my city. The only people who got measles were those who were vaccinated against it.

I can confirm recent cases of measles in your area:
https://globalnews.ca/news/5295472/measles-edmonton-sherwood-park-nisku-ahs/
https://globalnews.ca/news/6518563/edmonton-st-albert-measles-university-of-alberta-hospital-stollery-hospital/
But there is ZERO evidence of your outlandish claim "The only people who got measles were those who were vaccinated against it." I can't fathom why you keep telling these kinds of lies.

hippyjoe1955 · 70-79, M

@HannibalAteMeOut No I don't remember his name. Sorry. I kind of discounted him when I read what he wrote but he was fully credentialed according to the lead up in the article. I am not one that bows down before credentials so when I read what he said I kind of laughed at him. That completely aside I do think we need to be a bit more discriminating when it comes to the vaccines and vaxes we get injected with. A proven vaccine that controls a deadly disease in a safe and effective way I am in favor of. A vax that kills more people than the virus such as the covid vax I am not in favor of.

SomeMichGuy · M

@ElwoodBlues Because he only HAS lies (I can't see the comments, but I prob blocked him long ago).

sputnik · 70-79, M

@SomeMichGuy He hates people and spreads his malicious mischief through outright lies and twisted claims. Look above, where his attitude is that he’s vaccinated so he’s safe (suddenly vaccines work and are good, huh?) so everyone else can be ut at risk as far as he’s concerned.

hippyjoe1955 · 70-79, M

@sputnik So how many people do you know that are fully vaxed against covid that have had covid? Honest question please answer honestly. Remember Fauci and Biden and Harris are all fully vaxed and then had covid. Most of my vaxed friends have had covid more than once. None of my unvaxed friends have had covid more than once. The problem you have is you can't distinguish between a good vaccine and a quack vax. The covid vax are quack medicine and should be avoided. Salk Polio vaccines work and should be used. Isn't that simple? It is called EVIDENCE BASED SCIENCE. Something that you seemingly are incapable of understanding.

ElwoodBlues · M

@hippyjoe1955 Covid has evolved. It is a mistake to call all variants by the same name. Unvaxxed people who had Covid are getting it again. Vaxxed people are getting Covid. Omicron BA.5 is breaking through both kinds of pre-omicron protections. 2nd cases of unvaxxed are milder than first cases. First cases of already vaxxed are milder than first cases of unvaxxed. The research supports these claims.

T cells stand strong against Omicron

... They found that antibody cross-neutralization of Omicron was very low or absent compared with WT, Beta, and Delta variants, but could be partially restored by a third booster vaccination. T cells recognized Omicron just as effectively as other VOCs, suggesting that vaccinated individuals maintain T cell immunity, which could provide protection in the absence of neutralizing antibodies, limiting severe disease.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciimmunol.abo2202

@hippyjoe1955 Your expertise in immunology will probably lead you to quickly recognize that low antibody cross-neutralization means there weren't enough antibodies to entirely prevent infection. And your expertise will also inform you that the phrase "T cells recognized Omicron just as effectively as other VOCs" means than vaccinated people, once infected, can quickly mount a robust cellular response, resulting in less severe illness.