This might be the wrong message to encourage vaccination.
Americans used to stories of vaccine success against polio have lost sight of just how devastating and terrifying a disease polio was into the 1950s.
“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.”
https://theconversation.com/got-polio-messaging-underscores-a-vaccine-campaigns-success-but-creates-false-sense-of-security-as-memories-of-the-disease-fade-in-us-190518
#VaccinesWork #Science #News #Polio
@TheConversationUS Remember all the children that got polio because of talidomide? Thanks science!
@rastinza Thalidomide was an anti-nausea drug prescribed during pregnancy in other countries, but not approved in the US. It caused missing limbs in some of the babies whose mothers used it. There was a bad batch of polio vaccine in 1955 (The Cutter Incident) that killed 10 children and paralyzed more, but that’s a far cry from the half-million per year worldwide who died before the vaccine. Bad batches of medicine are not limited to vaccines. Hopefully quality control has improved since the 50s
