A video circulating among anti-vaxxers that polio was rare and often mild even before vaccines, hygiene improvements reduced its spread, the oral vaccine caused more issues like paralysis, and questions the need for continued polio vaccination in the U.S. since the disease was eradicated decades ago.

Stephen Baker, a chiropractor, does not have the education, training, or experience to claim that the oral polio vaccine caused all the cases of polio that resulted in paralysis or use of the iron lung.  This is easy enough to disprove since there were about 21,000 cases of polio cases in 1952, a full nine years before the oral vaccine was available and three years before the inactivated vaccine. Also, the iron lung was invented decades before, in 1927.

People not washing their hands before 1955, when the first polio vaccine was used, did not cause polio. Handwashing was not invented in 1955. In fact, sanitation hurt. Before the 1900s, most kids were exposed to polio as babies, which helped them build natural immunity. Better sanitation from the Industrial Revolution improved health but also reduced exposure to the virus, leading to polio outbreaks. He is correct that polio is spread through fecal matter (poop), but through such tiny amounts that you would have no idea you were putting it into your body. I hope you weren’t eating lunch when you read that.

Polio was much feared right before the vaccine was available to families. With 57,000 cases in the U.S. in 1952, parents feared only nuclear annihilation more. And we still vaccinate for polio despite prior elimination, because, as evidenced by the 2022 polio outbreak in New York, infectious diseases are only one plane ride away from somewhere where polio is still active.

Anti-vaxxers suggest that mRNA vaccines spread nanoparticles throughout the body, affecting organs like the heart, altering protein expression, and causing immune activation and inflammation.

The claims are based on an article in Nature Biotechnology, which tried to present a new way to view the biodistribution of nanoparticles in cells. Or how tiny particles move around and spread inside cells, where they go, how much of them reach different parts of the cell, and how long they stay there. The researchers tested different amounts of nanoparticles in mice, using various ways to give them, but the results might not apply to humans because mice and people have different body systems, including those that metabolize (process) substances and fight illnesses.

The study showed that, no matter how the nanoparticles were administered, tagged pieces of mRNA were found in immune cells, the liver (which helps filter waste from the body), and the lungs if given through the nose. Almost none, if any, was found in the brain or heart. The mRNA levels were much lower when smaller doses, like those used in vaccines, were tested.

This doesn’t change the fact that almost all large studies and real-world data show that mRNA vaccines are safe and effective, with serious side effects, like heart inflammation, being rare and usually mild.

Naomi Wolf, doctor of literature, suggests that those vaccinated during pregnancy may experience placental damage and abnormal blood flow linked to mRNA vaccines, causing death in unborn babies.

Although the tweet suggests that they are pulling facts from the air, they may be relying on a study of vaccinated women. In it, researchers looked at the placentas of pregnant women who received the Sinopharm COVID vaccine (a non-mRNA vaccine) and found a few minor changes. These included decidual vasculopathy (affecting blood vessels in the placenta) in 3 cases, massive subchorionic thrombosis (a blood clot under the placenta) in 1 case, and chronic histiocytic intervillositis (a rare immune response in the placenta) in 1 case.

Despite these findings, all mothers delivered healthy, full-term babies with normal Apgar scores, and the changes were described as mild. The study concluded that these changes were not harmful and were similar to those seen in both vaccinated and unvaccinated mothers in other studies. It supports the safety of the Sinopharm vaccine during pregnancy.

The other finding was that 19 of the 20 mother/baby pairs tested positive for anti-spike antibodies. This just means that those mothers and babies all showed evidence of vaccine-induced immunity, more evidence that vaccination during pregnancy helps protect the newborn.