Polio

From the UK Guardian:

"Low polio vaccination coverage among teenagers risks the re-emergence of virulent polio infection in the UK, experts have warned.

Fewer than half of 13 to 14-year-olds received their teenage booster against polio in some parts of England last year, data shows, after public health officials declared a national incident over evidence the virus is spreading in the community.

The form of virus that was detected through routine surveillance of wastewater in north and east London – vaccine-derived poliovirus – poses a low risk to health but there is a concern that a significant drop in vaccination uptake during the pandemic could offer the virus a foothold, allowing it to keep circulating."

How wonderful!  Let's hope there's no re-emergence of polio here in America, or else the anti-vaxxers will make sure that the disease spreads.

People of a certain age can recall family members who had polio as children, and the fear is something that stays with you.

If you want to read a novel about polio's impact on a Jewish neighborhood in the 1940s, read Philip Roth's Nemesis.