'Got polio?' messaging underscores a vaccine campaign's success but creates false sense of security as memories of the disease fade in US

Polio vaccines have been a massive public health victory in the US. But purely celebratory messaging overlooks the ongoing threat if vaccination rates fall.

Katherine A. Foss, Professor of Media Studies, Middle Tennessee State University • conversation
April 27, 2023 • ~10 min

Polio vaccination rates in some areas of the US hover dangerously close to the threshold required for herd immunity – here's why that matters

With poliovirus circulating in New York, health authorities worry that pockets of the county with low polio vaccination rates could give the virus a foothold.

Jennifer Girotto, Clinical Professor of Pharmacy Practice, University of Connecticut • conversation
Sept. 21, 2022 • ~8 min

Fears of a polio resurgence in the US have health officials on high alert – a virologist explains the history of this dreaded disease

Health officials say the new case of polio in New York state and the presence of poliovirus in the municipal wastewater suggests that hundreds more could already be infected with the disease.

Rosemary Rochford, Professor of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus • conversation
Sept. 7, 2022 • ~10 min

Polio in New York – an infectious disease doctor explains this exceedingly rare occurrence

The oral polio vaccine – which is no longer given in the US – relies on a live but weakened virus that can actually be passed from person to person.

William Petri, Professor of Medicine, University of Virginia • conversation
July 22, 2022 • ~6 min

What is herd immunity? A public health expert and a medical laboratory scientist explain

Vaccination campaigns like the ones that eventually eliminated polio and measles in the United States required decades of education and awareness in order to achieve herd immunity in the U.S. population.

Ryan McNamara, Research Associate of Microbiology and Immunology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • conversation
Nov. 3, 2021 • ~6 min

Medicine is an imperfect science – but you can still trust its process

A critical care doctor brings a frontlines perspective to the frustration of dealing firsthand with vaccine hesitancy and discusses the limitations of science and medicine.

Venktesh Ramnath, Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California San Diego • conversation
Sept. 7, 2021 • ~11 min

The great polio vaccine mess and the lessons it holds about federal coordination for today's COVID-19 vaccination effort

Massive vaccine distribution efforts take a lot of coordination. The rollout of the Salk polio vaccine in the US in 1955 holds lessons for those delivering COVID-19 shots today.

Bert Spector, Associate Professor of International Business and Strategy at the D'Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University • conversation
Jan. 14, 2021 • ~8 min

Until a coronavirus vaccine is ready, pneumonia vaccines may reduce deaths from COVID-19

A COVID-19 vaccine isn't the only tool for fighting this pandemic. An immunologist argues that safe pneumonia vaccines would reduce the severity of COVID-19, save lives and prevent the worst cases.

Robert Root-Bernstein, Professor of Physiology, Michigan State University • conversation
Oct. 14, 2020 • ~10 min

World Health Organization: what does it spend its money on?

The Trump administration has halted funding to the World Health Organization in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. But what does it actually do with its budget?

Sumit Mazumdar, Research Fellow at the Centre for Health Economics, University of York • conversation
April 23, 2020 • ~8 min

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