Polio

[maeveiscurious]

Sad to read Polio is on the rise. My DM remembers it passing through through the village in the 1950s. One boy died on an iron lung and many children were sick.

Vaccination is dropping off in London, I wonder why?

I just read this, it's awful, it's been such a long time. Thankfully my kids have coincidentally had the vaccine a few weeks ago. No idea why vaccination is dropping off. I suppose it stops being a threat, people forget about the scariness of it and the effects as you no longer hear stories of people getting it so they don't see the point of the vaccine 🤷

Vaccination is dropping off because the levels of anti-vax propaganda online (especially Facebook) are incredibly high and many parents believe it and no longer vaccinate their children for anything at all.

It's disgraceful. Polio was more or less eradicated in this country. It's incredibly dangerous and I think we should be more like other countries that refuse to enrol unvaccinated children in schools, at least that would go some way to reducing the spread.

Because people who don't vaccinate their children are selfish wankers.

I can only presume those not vaccinating don't know what a horrible disease it is. Baffling.

Eejits. My mum is in her early 70s now and had it when she was 4. The after effects of what it has done to her body are horrendous and I wouldn't wish it on anyone

This was a shock for me as I'd not realised DD needed a booster at 14 which she didn't get because of covid. She's 16 now so I'll encourage her to contact the GP to sort it out.

Bizarrely though there seems to be a theory that the samples found in sewage actually derived from a live vaccination that people have abroad so it may not be as bad as we think - and ironically not as a result of people not being vaccinated

My mum also had it but when she was 14. She caught it at a swimming pool. She had managed to have one vaccine but unfortunately caught it before she was able to have her second one. She was in a coma but relatively unscathed as a child - the first vaccine more than likely prevented that. Unfortunately as an adult she is now disabled with a compressed spine and fractured neck. Horrible, horrible disease and if people really knew what it could do to your body, I’m sure they wouldn’t refuse the vaccine

Mary Berry had it as a young girl and has one curved hand because of it. The girl in the next bed died of it.

I recently lived in a country that has people of my age (40’s) and younger who were reduced to begging at traffic lights because of disabilities caused by polio.

Many don’t realise how lucky we are in this country to have vaccinations readily available.

Stop fear mongering - polio isn’t on the rise. There haven’t been any cases of polio detected in the UK.

The polio vaccine has been detected in sewage most likely because someone from outside of the UK had a live oral vaccine.

That doesn’t mean anyone has polio.

@DogsAndGin this is slightly different though. It's normal for a few cases to be found in sewage due to a live vaccine but these normally drop off, this time it hasn't and the samples that have been found are similar. This hasn't happened since the mid 80s I saw.

Are babies routinely vaccinated against polio? I'm sure it's the eight week jabs that include it but not sure.

My father in law is 75, and has a withered leg and an almost completely under-developed bicep in one arm as a result of polio when he was 8/9. Two of his friends died during the same outbreak.

Were it not that I would hate to affront his dignity, I'd love to take him out among anti-vaxxers to show what the very really results of a COMPLETELY PREVENTABLE DISEASE are.

Vaccination against many diseases has been mandatory in France since 2018. Children can't start school unless they are up to date with their vaccinations.
Why can't we do this?

Nobody has been diagnosed as having Polio yet have they ?

Some quotes from the UK health security agency press release

The last case of wild polio contracted in the UK was confirmed in 1984. The UK was declared polio-free in 2003.

Dr Vanessa Saliba, Consultant Epidemiologist at UKHSA said:

Vaccine-derived poliovirus is rare and the risk to the public overall is extremely low.

Vaccine-derived poliovirus has the potential to spread, particularly in communities where vaccine uptake is lower. On rare occasions it can cause paralysis in people who are not fully vaccinated so if you or your child are not up to date with your polio vaccinations it’s important you contact your GP to catch up or if unsure check your Red Book. Most of the UK population will be protected from vaccination in childhood, but in some communities with low vaccine coverage, individuals may remain at risk.

snd
The UK is considered by the World Health Organization to be polio-free, with low-risk for polio transmission due to the high level of vaccine coverage across the population. However, vaccine coverage for childhood vaccines has decreased nationally and especially in parts of London over the past few years, so UKHSA is urging people to check they are up to date with their vaccines.

This from NHS has the age schedule for the vaccine.

I’m just about old enough to remember a few children with their legs on callipers when I was growing up. It never crossed my mind not to have my dc vaccinated.

I haven’t had the booster as I was in care for half my childhood and things like vaccinations weren’t thought about. A few years ago I asked a GP if I should have the jabs I missed out on but he said not to worry. I really would like to have them though.

My aunt had polio in the 1950’s and spent a year in hospital. My DGM was told it was a miracle that she was left able to walk normally and she did not suffer any long term effects.

I’m from another country which I believe did not vaccinate for polio in your teens in the 80’s (when I was a teen, and I had no jabs except for Rubella) so I have not been vaccinated for this beyond what I received as a small child. Same goes for TB as this was only given to those in certain high risk areas of the country (I was told not to bother with the latter by a doctor since living here). I’m wondering whether to ask the GP surgery about the polio vaccine for me.

Is polio on MMR? I had that as an adult? I'm 70s child,would I have had it?

MMR is measles, mumps and rubella
Polio is a routine childhood vaccination though
I am also a child of the 70s and very distinctly getting a polio vaccine on a sugar lump.

Polio and tuberculosis both need highlighting in the community. There ought to be a vaccine drive in some areas. An outdoor lido in our village was closed permanently back in the day because of a polio outbreak.

Polio isn’t part of the MMR - it stands for measles, mumps and rubella.

I was born in the 70s and the first polio one we had was on a sugar lump.

I think had one that just got squirted in the mouth, might be wrong on that as I may have had it at a different time as I was going on holiday to India and at that time not polio free.

In Australia you won't get the full Family payments if your child is not fully vaccinated, and they're very strict.

We moved from UK to Aus and the vaccinations are slightly different and I got caught out, had to get a blood test to prove they had chicken pox and so had natural immunity and didn't require the vaccine.

While we shouldn’t be complacent, this is currently a very, very small risk and the issue has only been picked up by modern, sophisticated testing capabilities, rather than people suffering symptoms.

Urgh - hate it when people throw out the ‘fearmongering’ quote.

It’s right that this should be highlighted.

There is no way that the younger generation would necessarily realise what the polio vaccine achieved in the earlier years. We are lucky how successful it was. But, surely, it only continues to be successful with continued vaccines down the line.

The world should be thankful for the polio vaccine - and all those able to to take advantage of it should do so.