by Lance D Johnson, Natural News:
In a desperate attempt to stop Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from being nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), corporate media outlets were commissioned to publish hit pieces on Kennedy for allegedly not supporting the polio vaccine and putting millions of children at risk. On December 13, Fortune published an article claiming that the polio vaccine is “safe and effective” and thanks to this vaccine, “20 million people who would’ve otherwise been paralyzed by polio are walking today.”
This statement is a gross misunderstanding of the scientific literature, and is a laughable assertion that defies simple mathematics.
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Did the polio vaccine save 20 million children from paralysis?
While polio can become a serious disease, especially in the case of immunocompromised children, the risk of paralysis is relatively low. According to the FDA, only about 0.001% of poliovirus infections lead to paralysis. The last wild poliovirus case reported in the U.S. was in 1979, according to the CDC. Most infections are asymptomatic, and only a small percentage result in severe illness. This raises questions about the balance between vaccine benefits and risks, particularly in regions where wild poliovirus has been eradicated.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there were 350,000 reported polio cases globally in 1988, with one in 200 infections leading to irreversible paralysis. This translates to approximately 1,750 paralysis cases that year. Factoring in a 1.2% annual population growth rate, the estimated number of paralysis cases between 1988 and 2024 would be around 80,910—far lower than the 20 million figure cited by Fortune.
The U.S., despite not seeing a wild poliovirus case since 1979, exclusively uses the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), which is injected and contains a dead poliovirus. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), IPV is safe and effective at preventing severe disease but does not stop transmission or infection. This means vaccinated individuals can still carry and spread the virus, even if they don’t fall ill. This means that recently vaccinated individuals are the ones who pose risks to immunocompromised individuals.
