Salk Didn’t Get the Nobel Prize

Tuesday, April 12, 2005 marks the 50th anniversary of the Salk's Polio Vaccine announcement. For anyone associated with the heartbreak and tragedy of vaccine injury, this is not an occasion to celebrate. The widespread disagreements over the safety of this medical invention began with the confrontations between Salk, the promoter of the "dead virus" vaccine, and Sabin who developed a "live virus" version, and concerns over it's safety continue today. I even came across this dubious verbiage in an article in the Orange County Register, "Vaccines are believed to have eliminated polio in the United States in the 1980s." The statement didn't say "absolutely eliminated polio," because there has never been proof that vaccines actually work. Even more alarming, the only cases of polio in the US in the past 35 years have been from exposure to the live virus vaccine, not "wild polio."

I can remember the fear in the 1950's of contracting polio, of warnings not to lie on the ground, not to go swimming in public pools. I am aware of the awful malady of children in braces, or crippled and lying in iron lungs in order to breathe. I have learned that disease epidemics ebb and wane, and the decline of polio cases actually started prior to the introduction of the vaccine in the mid-1950's. Diagnoses from 50 to 75 years ago may have mistaken Polio for other diseases.

I also know how statistics can be skewed to show a decline in polio cases after the release of the vaccine. Statistics can be twisted to "prove" any argument. In particular is the testimony of experts that indicates a willful bending of the numbers in order to promote the usage of polio vaccine, a medical cash cow that the government could require be purchased for every child in America.

There are volumes written about the many possible awful effects of the polio vaccine, including the potential of causing cancer later in life, contracting aids, and on and on. While you may be confronted with editorials and articles this week expounding on the "great breakthrough in medical history," keep in mind the other possibilities--ever wonder why Salk didn't get the Nobel Prize? Were the Scandinavians not up to the controversy? Maybe they were better informed.