Many Americans have forgotten the reality of infectious diseases like polio. Permanently disabled survivors all over the world want to remind the public that polio anywhere is a threat everywhere.

The polio vaccine, approved in 1955, has proven to be one of the greatest public health achievements of our time. It protects against a paralyzing and potentially life-threatening virus that once struck fear in the hearts of parents everywhere.

Today, many Americans view polio immunization as optional for their children because it isn’t circulating where they live, or they don’t see the infection to be life-threatening. The consequences for those who contract polio are often profound and permanent.

In 2022, the U.S. saw its first case of polio in decades. The now-paralyzed 20-year-old man in New York, who had not traveled outside the U.S., was infected from a strain of the weakened virus used in oral polio vaccines overseas. He was never vaccinated.

It’s World Immunization Week (April 24-30). History has shown that polio, measles, flu and many other viruses do not respect borders, and are often just a plane ride away. Please use science- based information to measure the safety and efficacy of a vaccine against the reality of the terrible disease it can prevent.

Learn more: endpolio.org/ and www.chop.edu/vaccine-education-center.

Carol Ferguson

New Hope

The writer is founder of the Pennsylvania Polio Survivors Network.

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