Opening the door to polio

Any of us around in the 1950s remember how scary the thought of contracting polio was. Mothers would insist their children rest in the summer afternoons. I remember pictures of large hospital rooms lined with iron lungs pumping air, keeping children alive. 

Most of us knew somebody who had polio. There was no cure. Polio presented in a variety of cruelties. Some people felt flu-like symptoms that left them fatigued. Others had paralysis of legs and used crutches and leg braces. The worst cases of polio affected lung function. Many died. Others lived in iron lungs. In 1952, approximately 21,000 people in the US were paralyzed by polio. Three thousand of those people died, unable to breathe.

The story of the “Miracle in Hickory” is a lesson in determination to fight a killer disease by quarantining patients with polio. In 1944, Army tents and cots were erected in 54 hours to house children from 74 counties in North Carolina. Camp Hickory was operational for nine months, eventually transferring patients to other hospitals. 

Drs. Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin developed the earliest vaccines for polio. After missteps in April of 1955, when the injection of live virus gave thousands of children polio, Dr. Sabin improved and perfected the vaccine. By the late 1950s, the vaccine was made available to the public. 

I remember standing in lines at the public school while the Health Department nurses dispensed vaccine coated sugar cubes. By the 1970s, polio was deemed eradicated. A targeted vaccine worked effectively; the spread was halted.

In September of 2024, polio surfaced among the children of Gaza. Deteriorating sanitation conditions and tainted water supplies were petri dishes for this terrorizing disease. People clamored for the vaccine. When the vaccine came, the epidemic subsided. 

Other childhood diseases also took lives. Whooping cough. Measles, mumps, and a host of others. Thanks to modern medicine, research and discovery, there are vaccine protections from some of the most noxious viruses around. They are a blessing in the world. 

When I look at the names of people who will be taking the reins of public health, I shudder to think of the possibility that Health and Human Services will be destroyed. Robert Kennedy, as HHS Secretary is a scary nominee. He is a vaccine skeptic and denier. Any research one does on the relationship between vaccines and autism teaches that there is no connection between the two. Vaccines do not cause autism, as he claims.

Dr. Bhattachrya, who will lead the National Institute of Health, promotes the theory of herd immunity. Essentially this is a survival of the fittest method. The weakest, oldest, sickest among us will be weeded out, while the young and fit survive. That may have worked with Covid, but HIV and polio strike the young and fit. Herd immunity is bad public health policy. 

Dr. Mehmet Oz will take oversite of Medicare and Medicaid. Dr. Oz, a sweetheart on the Oprah Show, promotes unproven treatments and drugs, like unto snake oil. Severe changes and cuts to Medicaid and Medicare will target the oldest, poorest and sickest among us, negatively affecting their lives.  

The Food and Drug Administration and the Surgeon General’s slots will be filled with Fox News hosts. They will be able to talk a good game. Let’s pray they have competence to manage their agencies and positions. 

The Centers for Disease Control will be led by a former Florida Congressman. What could go wrong with that? 

There is no question that HHS, like other government agencies has some bloat. There also is no doubt that public health in America is not what it could be. Food is over-processed. Ingredient lists on products have names few can even pronounce, much less understand what their impact is on health. 

One of the reasons we are here with all the toxins and chemicals in food is our insatiable desire for cantaloupes and strawberries in the winter. We want what we want when we want it. 

Professor Scott Galloway says if you go any other country in the world, their food rots because it is not over-processed with chemicals. We like the extended shelf life of foods and vegetables. There is undeniable correlation between poor health outcomes and poor food choices. 

There is no question that a few bulls in the public health china shops might shake things up, at least to a point of transparency and examination. Overall, public health in the US is not what it should be or could be. Health outcomes for many are poor. Maternal mortality and infant mortality are higher here in the United States than in most other developed nations. 

We need serious people for serious jobs. I am not sure that’s what we are getting in the coming administration. 

Lib Campbell is a retired Methodist pastor, retreat leader, columnist and host of the blogsite www.avirtualchurch.com. She can be contacted at libcam05@gmail.com