Why get vaccinated?
Polio vaccine can prevent polio.
Polio (or poliomyelitis) is a disabling and life-threatening disease caused by poliovirus, which can infect a person's spinal cord, leading to paralysis.
Most people infected with poliovirus have no symptoms, and many recover without complications. Some people will experience sore throat, fever, tiredness, nausea, headache, or stomach pain.
A smaller group of people will develop more serious symptoms that affect the brain and spinal cord:
- Paresthesia (feeling of pins and needles in the legs),
- Meningitis (infection of the covering of the spinal cord and/or brain), or
- Paralysis (can't move parts of the body) or weakness in the arms, legs, or both.
Paralysis is the most severe symptom associated with polio because it can lead to permanent disability and death.
Improvements in limb paralysis can occur, but in some people new muscle pain and weakness may develop 15 to 40 years later. This is called "post-polio syndrome."
Polio has been eliminated from the United States, but it still occurs in other parts of the world. The best way to protect yourself and keep the United States polio-free is to maintain high immunity (protection) in the population against polio through vaccination.
