(Letter to the Editor - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

What is causing a half-million children to be vaccinated against polio in the Gaza War Zone?

Polio is a terrible disease with life-long after effects. I know because I live with them every day. The polio virus is highly contagious and very virulent. It causes paralysis and even death in one of about 200 cases. It is not curable but is preventable by vaccination.

When I was a child, it paralyzed both of my legs. I learned to walk with braces and crutches. Now I use a power wheelchair due to the late effects of polio. The late effects of polio can develop decades after the initial acute infection. These late effects are remarkably similar to the effects of Long COVID. We won’t know for another decade if COVID can produce more late effects like polio.

Our responses to polio have been heroic. Before the vaccine and before the causes were understood, people lived in fear of summertime epidemics. In Hickory, N.C., a new polio hospital accepted patients just 54 hours after deciding it was needed during an epidemic. The March of Dimes, the most successful charity ever in the U.S., was formed to treat polio and develop a vaccine. President Roosevelt founded Warm Springs as a polio treatment center. Polio clinics were built throughout the nation. Two vaccines were developed and school children stood in line to receive the vaccine. Polio was eliminated in the U.S. and now, with the support of Rotary, it is 99.9% eliminated worldwide.

Ed Roberts, a polio survivor using a wheelchair, was accepted at Berkley without disclosing his disability. His battle to attend classes by occupying the Dean’s office eventually led to the formation of today’s Independent Living Centers. Polio survivors were among the leaders who crawled up the stairs of the U.S. capital supporting the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In the Ohio Valley, Wood County Society has continuously sponsored a post polio support group for 35 years.

Small pox is eradicated and polio nearly. My wife and I caught measles: Our children were vaccinated and did not catch measles. Now we have so many safe and effective vaccines that a doctor or health department must recommend which are appropriate. We must extend these accomplishments into the future.

Get vaccinated; even one case of a preventable disease is one too many.

Warren Peacoe

Leader of the Mid-Ohio Valley Post Polio Support Group

Vienna