In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the discredited notion that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread. Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.
Throughout the U.S., vaccination rates for polio vary significantly..
The CDC recommends that infants and young children receive a four-dose schedule of the inactivated poliovirus vaccine at 2 months, 4 months, 6 to 18 months and 4 to 6 years. For those who begin vaccination later – as older children, teens or adults – three doses is considered to be complete vaccination. This is because three doses of inactivated poliovirus vaccination have been shown to provide between 99% and 100% protection against severe disease.
Although all U.S. states are currently above the 80% herd immunity threshold for poliovirus, there are areas within the country that include many pockets of unvaccinated or undervaccinated individuals – those who have not received a total of three lifetime doses of the inactivated vaccine.
New York state, for example, holds one of the highest kindergarten polio vaccination rates in the country, with 97.9% of kindergartners vaccinated in the 2020-2021 school year. But current estimates by the New York State Department of Public Health suggest that only 79% of 2-year-olds in that state have received three doses of the polio vaccine.
Further, in certain pockets and counties of New York, such as Rockland, Orange and Sullivan, three-dose vaccination rates may be far lower based on the 2-year-old age group, which is the only data that is available by county: Rockland 60%, Orange 59% and Sullivan 62%. In fact, 46% of counties in New York are below the three-dose poliovirus vaccination herd immunity threshold for 2-years-olds
