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https://www.techdirt.com/2026/03/02/the-return-of-measles-is-bad-a-polio-comeback-would-be-so-so-much-worse/>
"We’ve talked a lot about the resurgence of measles in America over the past 14
or so months, and for good reason. It’s a horrible disease of historic
significance. Equally historic was America achieving elimination status of the
measles 26 years ago, only to see that almost certainly fall away thanks to the
incompetence and inaction by Secretary of HHS, RFK Jr. This is all connected
with a surge of anti-vaxxer nonsense that has proliferated across several
decades, but which is now peaking thanks to the clowns this administration has
put in charge of American health.
But as bad as the measles is, and it is really bad, it would be nothing to the
visible horror show that any real return of polio in America would be. It was
only weeks ago that the chair of ACIP, the CDC’s committee for recommendations
on vaccine policies, wondered aloud if we should be vaccinating for polio any
longer. Perhaps in part because of those comments, healthcare professionals
throughout the country are ringing the alarm bells, warning that the country is
in no way prepared for a return of polio.
Part of the problem, ironically enough, is that vaccines have done such a
wonderful job of eliminating polio that healthcare professionals are no longer
proficient in treating it.
“We don’t have a healthcare infrastructure to take care of a polio
outbreak,” said Grace Rossow, an operating-room communications coordinator
in Illinois, who has long-term health issues following a case of polio as an
infant.
“They don’t know how to treat it. It is a massive problem if we have a
resurgence of polio.”
Polio has no cure. Those who get it merely get their symptoms treated as best
they can. Up to half of those who get the disease will suffer from long-term
effects for the rest of their lives. Symptoms of post-polio syndrome include
such fun things as increasing weakness in the muscles, fatigue, pain and muscle
atrophy, problems breathing and swallowing, and an inability to be mobile
without mechanical assistance. And that’s what you can deal with once you get
past the acute symptoms, like paralysis in the lower extremities and the
inability to breath without the help of an iron lung.
And if Polio does indeed return, it will be because selfish or misguided
people, typically clinging to religious excuses that are simply unserious, have
refused to be good members of their communities by getting them and their
children vaccinated."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
