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Some lesser known facts about vaccination: a discussion
Dr. Dhiraj Nanda
Vaccines have been attributed to bring down the
incidence of the disease. But reality may not be what
appears. Last week, I was talking about H1N1 (swine flu)
epidemic and its prevention in my Rotary club. During
the talk the polio immunization program came up. Rotary
has been closely associated with polio plus program. But
when I talked about some facts, there was a concern
about this program. Thee facts are given below:
1. Salk, man behind polio vaccine himself said that from
1961 on, all cases of Polio in the United States have
been caused by the oral Polio vaccine? No, he really
said that! (Washington Post, September 24, 1976)
2. According to CDC (US Center for Disease Control) from
1979 on, the Polio vaccine has been the major cause, if
not the sole cause, of all cases of Polio in the United
States. From 1980 thru 1989, every case of polio in the
US (excluding imported cases) was caused by vaccine (US
Centers for Disease Control, Feb. 1992).
3. First of all, over 90% of people exposed to the
natural Polio virus don't get it, even in epidemics.
Others will get cold or flu symptoms. One in every
1,000 who contract the disease will get the paralysis
and usually there is full recovery which begins after
several days and continues over the next one to two
years.
4. In fact, Polio may have doubled in the US as a whole,
according to US government statistics after the
vaccination program got under way. Even before the
vaccine was introduced, Polio had already declined by
roughly 50% 9; plus, Polio declined and
disappeared in European countries that never had a
vaccination program! 10
5. After the introduction of vaccine, the standards for
diagnosing Polio were completely changed and it became
almost impossible to meet the parameters for diagnosing
Polio. Before the vaccine, one was presumed to have
Polio if he had paralysis for 24 hours. After the
vaccination program began, the parameter was changed to
paralysis for 60 days!
So, we see how the vaccine was made to look effective. I
invite views both for and against vaccination to discuss
the issue of vaccination in more details.
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