'Our parents didn't have a choice': Vaccinate your children, polio survivors plead - Action News
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ManitobaPoint of View

'Our parents didn't have a choice': Vaccinate your children, polio survivors plead

The first polio vaccines came too late to help those affected by major outbreaks in the early 20th century, says the Post Polio Network (Manitoba). But today's parents have no excuses for not getting their kids vaccinated.

Polio vaccines came too late to stop outbreaks, says the Post-Polio Network; today's parents have no excuses

An old black and white image of a doctor, kneeling down, and injecting a needle with the polio vaccine into the arm of a young boy, standing in front of him.
Polio vaccines arrived in the mid-1950s, but were too late to prevent major outbreaks at the time in Winnipeg and Manitoba. Now, parents have a choice about vaccinating their kids but some are making the wrong one, says the Manitoba branch of the Post-Polio Network. (CBC Archives)

Our parents didn't have a choice.

Today's parents do. But some are making the wrong one.

Today, a lot of people receive their news using social media and not traditional media sources.

Unfortunately, this has led to a lot of false information and misinformed groups, such as the so-called "anti-vaxxers."

Although concerns regarding vaccinations (e.g. the claim they causeautism) have been debunked by science and medical specialists, people who do not believe in vaccinations refuse to vaccinate their children.

This leaves them open to major communicable diseases that can have lifetime repercussions.

We, as polio survivors, live every day with a multitude of issues.

Many of us spent childhood months in hospitals, some living in "iron lungs" and being treated with measures that were unproven, in hopes of helping us return to our homes and families.

Many of those fortunate ones who survivedtoday live with post-polio syndrome, which echoes the symptoms of the original virus. Some are able to maintain mobility, though sometimes with crutches and walkers. Others are confined to wheelchairs. Others live with debilitating pain, fatigue, breathing and swallowing troubles.

The first poliomyelitis vaccine was developed in the mid-1950sbutnot in time to prevent major outbreaks at the time in Winnipeg and Manitoba.

Not in time to give anxious parents the choice to vaccinate against the dreaded virus.

A Winnipeg physician treats a young polio patient in this 1953 photo. Thousands were affected by major polio outbreaks in Winnipeg and Manitoba in the first decades of the 20th century. (University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections)

The first major outbreak in Manitoba occurred in 1928, and the last major outbreak occurred in 1953.

In total, the number of reported cases during that time period was over 5,500. More than 2,000 cases of polio were reported in Winnipeg alone. To put that in perspective, the population of Winnipeg in 1953 was 234,000.

The numbers are shocking and show how an unvaccinated community can be ravaged by a single communicable disease.

Many provinces in Canada are now legislating to have compulsory vaccinations for school-aged children.

Manitoba has not.

At their 2018 annual general meeting, the Manitoba School Boards Associationvoted against a motion that would have made vaccinations compulsory.

In Ontario, where school-aged vaccination is legislated, a group of parents wants to challenge it in court.

No child oradult should have to live with the threat of a lifetime with a disability (or death) due to the lack of a vaccination.

We implore everyone to ensure that your children and you are safe get vaccinated.

Our parents didn't have a choice. You do.

This column is part ofCBC's Opinion section.For more information about this section, please read thiseditor's blogand ourFAQ.