There was a time when every parent in America went to bed afraid of a cough.
Not because of COVID.
Not because of the flu.
Because of polio.
It didn’t matter if you were rich or poor, in a big city or a small town. Polio didn’t care.
It paralyzed children without warning. It robbed them of their ability to walk, to breathe, to live freely.
Entire hospital wings were filled with children in iron lungs—massive, steel machines that breathed for them. Some lived inside them for months. Some for life.
It was a horror movie played out in schoolyards, swimming pools, and summer camps.
And then, almost miraculously, it stopped.
The Vaccine That Changed the World
In 1955, when Dr. Jonas Salk announced the first successful polio vaccine, churches rang their bells.
People danced in the streets.
Parents wept with relief.
Within a few years, polio cases dropped by more than 90%.
Today, most Americans under 40 have never seen it.
Never known anyone with it.
Never heard the hiss of an iron lung.
That’s the problem.
Success Has Made Us Forget Why We Needed It
Because polio is gone, we think it’s over.
Because vaccines worked, we’ve started to wonder if they were ever necessary.
Because we no longer feel fear, we don’t recognize the cost of complacency.
And in that quiet vacuum of memory, something dangerous has grown:
misinformation.
The idea that vaccines are dangerous.
That they’re part of some agenda.
That because you don’t remember the disease, it must never have been a big deal.
It’s not just wrong.
It’s reckless.
We Don’t Need More Iron Lungs to Remember
There are still survivors.
Men and women who limp through life with braces on their legs.
Who never got to run with their friends.
Who remember the summer the pool closed—not because of budget cuts, but because of fear.
They don’t need convincing.
They lived it.
But what about our children? What about their children?
What happens when the memory dies—and only the lies remain?
This Isn’t About Polio Alone
It’s about what happens when we let fear of medicine outweigh memory of disease.
It’s about learning from the past without having to relive it.
Because polio isn’t a ghost story.
It’s a virus. And it’s still out there.
Waiting for a crack in our defenses.
And if we give in to doubt, to disinformation, to “doing our own research” over listening to generations of medical science—
That crack will come.
We Shouldn’t Have to Relearn This Lesson the Hard Way
Vaccines didn’t just work.
They changed everything.
Let’s not forget why.
Let’s not wait for the return of iron lungs to remember what they saved us from.
Because the vaccine worked, we don’t fear polio anymore.
But maybe it’s time we remember why we once did.
Last Updated on June 26, 2025
