Developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, the polio vaccine led to a massive decrease in cases in the United States, to the point where the iron lung was phased out for polio victims in the late 1950s and 1960s.
It remains one of the clearest public health successes of the modern era, something Northwestern University physician Dr. Neil Stone highlighted on December 21 in a post underscoring the importance of vaccines and continued vaccine research.
In the social media post, Stone wrote:
“This is an iron lung for polio victims. You don't know anyone who needs it. Because of vaccines.”
And before the vaccine? There were about 16,000 cases of paralytic polio year after year during the 1950s. With the introduction of the Salk vaccine, U.S. cases plummeted from roughly 45,000 a year to just over 900 by 1962. That represents an instrumental decline of more than 99 percent, both domestically and globally, following widespread vaccination efforts.
Since 1988 alone, global polio cases have fallen by more than 99 percent, preventing millions of cases of paralysis.
You can view the post and the photo of a man stricken with polio in an iron lung here:
The post received the usual mix of praise and pushback that accompanies any mention of vaccines online.
One critic was an account known as Dr. J, whose X bio claims he is a “defender of evidence-based medicine and critical thinking.” His feed, however, is filled with COVID vaccine conspiracy theories, debunked claims linking vaccines to autism, and routine mockery of people he accuses of having “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
Spotting Stone’s iron lung post, Dr. J jumped in with what he likely thought was a gotcha:
“Now tell us how vaccines got rid of the Bubonic Plague, Neil.”
For those who either skipped World History or absorbed it exclusively through memes, the bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death, was a bacterial infection spread primarily by fleas carried on rodents. It attacked the lymphatic system, causing swollen, painful lymph nodes known as buboes, often in the groin, neck, or armpits. The disease traveled along trade routes, hitching rides on ships, and reached Europe in the 1340s after originating in Asia.
As Stone patiently pointed out in his reply, vaccines were not exactly part of the medieval medical toolkit:
“Vaccines didn't get rid of bubonic plague it's true. There was no vaccine. It ended by itself. After wiping out half of Europe's population.”
That reality bears repeating. Between 1346 and 1353, the Black Death is estimated to have taken out between 75 million and 200 million people across Europe, Asia, and Africa. Europe alone lost roughly 30 to 50 percent of its population, about 25 million people, with outbreaks continuing for centuries afterward.
The plague did not disappear because humans outsmarted it. It burned through populations until there were fewer people left to infect.
Polio, by contrast, did not require mass death to recede. It required and relied on science and vaccines.
Walter Orenstein, former director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s immunization program, has described the polio vaccine as a “miracle,” while stressing that continued vaccination is essential to finishing the job. Undermining trust in the vaccine, he warns, risks undoing decades of progress.
Orenstein told Think Global Health:
“Polio is one example. As I said earlier, when the first inactivated polio vaccine became available, people wanted it like crazy. Now, most people have never seen a case of polio. Polio anywhere can be polio everywhere. In fact, in 2022, the United States had a case of polio transmitted from outside into the country, causing a case of paralysis.”
That warning lands uncomfortably amid renewed political flirtations with vaccine skepticism. But X users were quick to agree with Stone, reminding skeptics that the iron lung didn’t vanish because polio got bored, but because vaccines worked.
You can view the reactions below:
During his confirmation process for Secretary of Health and Human Services, RFK Jr. told senators:
“I support the measles vaccine. I support the polio vaccine. I will do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking any vaccines.”
Yet reporting later revealed that his lawyer had previously petitioned the FDA to revoke approval of the polio vaccine.
Then, President-elect Donald Trump moved quickly to reassure the public that Americans were “not going to lose the polio vaccine,” with Kennedy insisting he is “all for” it. Still, RFK Jr.’s long record of antivaccine rhetoric, amplified during the Trump administration, has public health experts concerned as he enters his second year as Secretary of Health.
So, needless to say, history is clear, even if the X naysayers are not. Because polio didn’t just fade away on its own, never to inflict again, and it certainly wasn’t defeated through skepticism disguised as so-called “critical thinking.” It was beaten back with needles, research, facts, and collective action.
As Dr. Stone wrote, the bubonic plague stands as a reminder of what happens when humanity has no science to lean on—and what we risk repeating when we choose not to trust it.
