21 Comments

I was one of the very first children vaccinated against polio. Am I still protected, or should I ask for a booster?

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There are recommendations for *some* high risk adults to get a vaccine. See more here: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/polio/public/index.html

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Same question - I remember lining up in the school gym for it. How would SLSRPH's question be answered? - presence of antibodies, T-cells... or monitor for infections on people vaccinated decades ago? Same question for MMR, etc. Why would some vaccines confer long-term protection while Covid vaccines don't nearly as much? (Is it just that SARS viruses are much likelier to mutate?) Could a previously IPV-vaccinated person be an asymptomatic carrier?

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I don't have experience in regards to polio vaccination. However, with mmr (and others) titers can be done. I'm now 43 and during both of my pregnancies (at age 30 and 35) my mmr titers were negative for antibodies. The T-cell response of course is harder to know/measure. I received an mmr booster after deliver the babies. However haven't had a titer since. Thank for this reminder to find out if one is indicated.

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Katelyn answered my question--so if you're still wondering, look at her response. :)

Sounds to me like I'm protected.

BUT... If antivaxxers who keep skipping vaccinations for their kids wind up with paralyzed kids, and polio cases multiply all over the country to the point that I could encounter the virus in my little neighborhood, I'll be asking my primary care for a booster.

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founding

As we say in the Good Place, "holy mother-forking shirtballs!" I am no longer amazed at my fellow humans' willingness to cling to a position, but I remember the terror that swept through this country every Summer until Dr. Salk's miracle. The healthcare "system" should be seeing a wave of anti-vax-related illnesses any month now. Thank you, again, Katelyn, for bringing us the (mostly bad) news so clearly.

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Wonderful presentation Katelyn. It's truly difficult to keep a virus under control. I remember the horror we felt of getting polio with the spectre of an iron lung in ones future..we children in the fifties feared polio more than measles and lined up eagerly to get our sugar cubes. Now it's back. My mother got polio when she was young in the twenties, and decades later was diagnosed with post polio syndrome by no less than the Mayo Clinic. Same era one of the greatest presidents our country ever had, FDR, also contracted it and it left him paralyzed. And we thought it was gone.

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Are you sure about the no history of travel? This was a VDPV. The Washington Post reported he had traveled to Poland and Hungary. I don’t know the current vaccination policies of either country (though I assume they use IPV in their routine vaccination programs) but Ukraine, which has had abysmal vaccine coverage for years, especially in Zakarpatia Oblast which borders Hungary, uses OPV in campaigns and may be using it exclusively in IDPs during the war.

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Plausible theory, especially with the refugees streaming over the border

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We need inoculation against misinformation and ignorance ...

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And add to misinformation, information. See Nick Bostrom's essay on "information hazards" in biotechnology. What we do know can be turned to harm us. A perverse species we are.

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Good point, sadly true ...

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So, my daughter’s friend is adopted from Russia, and she is vaccinated for smallpox and says that is common there. I can’t easily find information regarding the subject, but given Russia’s recent proclivities, I have to say it made me a teeny bit nervous. What do you know about the subject?

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Coming soon from the anti-vax wackos: "polio parties" where you can arrange for your child to get infected so they'll have "natural immunity." Free crutches and leg braces will be provided for the survivors.

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And it's not just anti vax sentiment that can lead to such. I remember back in the day when HIV positive gents had people seek them out to acquire it also. The times were brave, dispairing, confused. There was a strange survivor guilt out there; when one got tested negative-there was both relief and disappointment. The human spirit is never more displayed in all its complex profundity than in times of pandemic.

And war.

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I get that every time I take a rapid test and it's negative

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It's the internal tension between self preservation and the seeking of community, even if it is one of shared suffering. Besides, it was for some a great stress reducer to fall to that illness, one needed no longer worry or orchestrate defensive actions. The worst had happened and one was, in a curious way, free for the very first time.

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But for others there was a terrible dispair. I remember one fellow who started buying books in quantities impossible to read even in a year. They were almost his charm against the darkness. The charm failed him. I remember another who showed me his Kaposi lesions and laughed. He is no longer with us. Another was smiling and cheerful all the time. He took his own life. Monkey pox will not be the same, nor polio. Thank God.

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Your data-informed writings are a breath of fresh air in our news heavy world. Confidence in scientists has taken a hit in the last 5-6 yrs and it makes me sad. We have always had to contend with charlatans but it feels more prominent now. Thank you for your efforts & keep it up!

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After reading this article an article titled "Poliovirus Vaccination Induces a Humoral Immune Response That Cross Reacts With SARS-CoV-2"

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8369257/

I went ahead and got an inactivated polio vaccine at a CVS, in early June.

I've had several mid-life non-Covid boosters (in addition to a total of 6 Covid shots) since the fall of 2019: MMR, TDAP, PCV20 and Jynneos, as well as annual flu shots.

I haven't had Covid yet, despite having not been particularly careful since this past February. I think it's partly because of my "vaccine resume"

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founding

Thank you

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