Nostalgia for the Age of Polio

You could say that I was born in the golden age of communicable diseases—the 1950’s.

Don’t get me wrong--we had made some progress by then. The DPT (diptheria-pertussis-tetanus) vaccine was licensed in 1949, and the last case of smallpox in the US was seen that same year. About 200,000 cases of whooping cough (pertussis) occurred each year in the U.S. in the 20th century compared with about 5,000 cases in 2023. Likewise, about 21,000 annual cases of diphtheria occurred each year in the U.S. compared with two in 2023. (Mayo Clinic.)

However, polio peaked in 1952, the year I was born. Nearly 60,000 children were infected; thousands were paralyzed, and more than 3,000 died. There was no vaccine, and the only treatment was supportive. Parents kept their children home from playgrounds, fairs, sports events and swimming pools, hoping that would prevent exposure. (That didn’t start with COVID.) (Mayo Clinic)

In 1955, the Salk polio vaccine was approved.

Though I was terrified of “shots” and kicked up a fuss, my mother was unmoved. I received the injected Salk vaccine every year until the Sabin oral vaccine was approved in 1961. Nobody was happier to see that sugar cube than me.

It wasn’t just polio, though. There were no vaccines for measles, mumps, chicken pox, and the like. So other contagious diseases ran through our neighborhood like a hot knife through butter. I did not escape a single one—mumps, measles, chicken pox (varicella,) and the so-called “German” measles (rubella.)

My memories of those episodes is fragmented—bits and pieces of loss. My twin sister and I contracted chicken pox from our older brother, and had to stay home from a family trip to Illinois.

When I had the measles, (we called it the ‘red measles’) I remember lying for hours in a dark room, because it was thought that might reduce the risk of blindness (measles was a leading cause of blindness and hearing loss in those days.) Many children developed pneumonia, about one in a thousand children developed encephalitis, and a few developed an incurable form of dementia known as subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE.)

I escaped those complications, but my “measles cough” was so bad, my father delivered his failsafe cure—a tablespoon of whiskey. I threw up all over him.

I was the only one in my childhood neighborhood who developed rubella. All the neighbors sent their little girls over to play, hoping that they would catch it, and so avoid the devastating effects of rubella in pregnancy. (I was not a very good vector—I didn’t pass it to a single one.)

Since then, vaccines have been developed for every one of those diseases. My sons—born in the 1980’s--escaped them all but chicken pox (the vaccine was not approved in time.) They both had it-- sequentially, of course.

One of the differences between the 1950s and now is that we believed in science then. It wasn’t political then. The demand for a polio vaccine was so great that private donations helped pay for the early trials of the vaccine. Once the vaccine was approved, people lined up by the thousands to get vaccinated. Within ten years, the number of cases was reduced from more than 58,000 to 72. (Our World in Data) Pretty convincing.

Today, whether the issue is vaccination or climate change, all opinions are equal, whether you heard it on Rogan or from the CDC.

I worked in health care for years, and I am a scientist at heart. So, yes, I am convinced of the efficacy and safety of vaccines. When the first vaccines for COVID came available, I quickly got in line. Today, my vaccines are up to date, including vaccines against shingles, pneumonia, COVID, and flu. My twin sister, who shared chicken pox with me, had not yet gotten immunized for shingles when she came down with a nasty case. As soon as she recovered, she got the vaccination. It helped that Medicare covered the cost.

So why am I bringing this up now? The president has nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr, a long-time vaccine skeptic, to be his secretary of Health and Human Services. Though Kennedy is a lawyer with no health care or policy background, he would oversee health policy and staff, including Medicare and Medicaid, the Centers for Disease Control, and the National Institutes of Health.

I am concerned.

In July 2024, in a podcast interview, Kennedy said that there is no vaccine that is safe and effective. He told Fox News that he still believes the debunked theory that vaccines cause autism. He has campaigned against Gardasil, a vaccine that protects against the Human Papilloma Virus, soliciting reports from people who claim they were harmed by the vaccine (and then referring them to a law firm he’s associated with.) Much of Mr. Kennedy’s income comes from referrals and fees from law firms litigating against the safety of vaccines.

Mr. Kennedy told Louisiana lawmakers in late 2021 that the Covid vaccine was the “deadliest vaccine ever made.” He petitioned the FDA to rescind its approval six months after its introduction at a time when it was estimated to have saved 140,000 lives. (NYT) He claimed that the vaccine wasn’t needed because ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine were effective treatments (they are not.)

He claims that the polio vaccine has killed many more people than it has saved. He says that vaccines have had nothing to do with the drop in deaths from infectious diseases. Instead, he says, “It had everything to do with sanitation, with hygiene, electric refrigerators, with reduction in population densities.” (cited in NYT)

Tell you what, Mr. Kennedy, my mom had an electric refrigerator in the 1940s and 1950s, and her house was cleaner than mine is today. When my ancestors were living on isolated 19^th century farms in Illinois and Ohio, they were dying of whooping cough, typhoid, and tuberculosis.

Kennedy is also opposed to fluoride in water. My daughter-in-law, the dentist, should be thrilled about the potential jump in demand for fillings, root canals, et al. She is not. She is concerned.

Kennedy now claims that he is not anti-vaccine. (ABC) I don’t believe him. If you don’t either, contact your senator and ask them to vote against approval of this nominee. The stakes are too high.

For more information, go to Nurses for America for some opinion pieces and the opportunity to sign an online petition. https://nursesforamerica.net

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/history-disease-outbreaks-vaccine-timeline/whooping-cough#:~:text=causes%20whooping%20cough-,1914,is%20licensed%20in%20the%20U.S.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/history-disease-outbreaks-vaccine-timeline/polio#:~:text=Many%20people%20avoided%20crowds%20and,regularly%20checked%20them%20for%20symptoms

https://ourworldindata.org/polio

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2012/10/16/162670836/wiping-out-polio-how-the-u-s-snuffed-out-a-killer

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/measles-the-forgotten-killer-2019052316683#:~:text=Measles%20can%20infect%20the%20cornea,%25%20to%204%25%20of%20cases.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/17/health/robert-f-kennedy-jr-polio-vaccines.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/17/health/rfk-jr-covid-vaccines.html

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/rfk-jr-hes-anti-vaccine-profit-off-vaccine/story?id=118137375