The sister of Martha Lillard, the last known polio patient in the United States to rely on an iron lung for breathing, has voiced concerns about the resurgence of vaccine hesitancy. Lillard required the mechanical respirator for 52 years after contracting polio, a disease that devastated communities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Polio primarily affected children, leading to paralysis and, in some cases, death due to respiratory failure. According to the World Health Organization, one in 200 polio infections results in irreversible paralysis, and 5-10% of those paralyzed die when their breathing muscles become incapacitated. The development of a polio vaccine in 1955 marked a turning point, and the United States declared polio eliminated in 1979, a result of widespread vaccination campaigns.
However, rising vaccine hesitancy in the U.S. has prompted discussions about vaccine policy. Kirk Milhoan, chair of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, suggested earlier this year that polio vaccines could be made optional. Milhoan cited changing public health conditions and sanitation as factors in re-evaluating vaccine necessity.
These sentiments worry Lillard's sister, who stated through tears that polio is a "terrible" disease that "disfigures, disables and leaves people trapped." She expressed dismay that the disease, once under control in the U.S., now faces renewed risk due to declining vaccination rates. She believes that the distance in time from major polio outbreaks has led some to underestimate the dangers of the disease and overestimate the risks associated with vaccines. "They may think there's problems with the vaccine, but there's a whole lot more problems if they don't vaccinate," she said. Martha Lillard contracted polio the year before the vaccine became widely available, a fact that underscores how close the nation was to eradicating the disease.