Polio Question aka Get My Mom Off My Back

[forest~mama]

Hi all~

My dd is almost 5 and has not been vax'ed yet. We have been planning on getting a few because I'm not totally into the natural immunity thing, but swing way more that way that the vax'ing for everything under the sun way. Anyway- my mom who was a young teen in the 1950's in totally freaked out about Polio. I want to scream every time she brings it up. Every time we go stay in a hotel and dd is in the pool she mentions it, every swim lesson, ect. Today dd spiked a little fever and says her legs, chest, feet and chin hurt. My mom said this " You know where I went with that- right to Polio". OMG. I'd like to see the actual stats for the US and particularly OR if possible. I don't have an issue getting her vax'ed for it per se, but I need to get my mom off my back until I decide if I'll do that or not.

Also, I read somewhere that an older child who gets vax'ed for say MMR or Tet/Pertus does not have to get as many boosters as an infant. Is that correct because the DR told me that was wrong?

Thank so much!

P.S. Please do not reply with "Why would you want to get her vax'ed at this point if she's almost 5"? Like I said- we're not sure we are or not at this point. Thanks :)

[lynsage]

IDK about the boosters, but the easiest way to get your mom off your back would be to just say you had DD vaxed for polio. It's none of her business, anyway. I worked very hard to win my own mother over on the vaxing issue because I was living with her when my daughter was an infant, but I allow just about everyone else in the world to assume she's fully vaxed because it is a personal issue and I don't want to deal with the inevitable harassment.

As long as you make it look to your mom like you're open to doing it at some point, she's going to keep trying to wear you down about it.

If you think she'd be open to some actual facts that might persuade her, you could refer her to the CDC page on polio  (italics are mine): 

"Is polio still a disease seen in the United States?

The last cases of naturally occurring paralytic polio in the United States were in 1979, when an outbreak occurred among the Amish in several Midwestern states. From 1980 through 1999, there were 152 confirmed cases of paralytic polio cases reported. Of the 152 cases, eight cases were acquired outside the United States and imported. The last imported case caused by wild poliovirus into the United States was reported in 1993. The remaining 144 cases were vaccine-associated paralytic polio (VAPP) caused by live oral polio vaccine (OPV). "

That might at least dissuade her from her apparent belief that the odds of your daughter catching polio anywhere in the wild, much less from a swimming pool, are anything but astronomically rare in the United States today.

[lynsage]

The last reported case of polio in Oregon was in 1983 according to this publication on polio from the Oregon CDC: http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/cdsummary/2001/ohd5002.pdf

[forest~mama]

ITA about it being nobody's business. I have not lied to her about vax'ing because I'm stubborn and do feel it's none of her business if/when I do vax dd.

I thank you for your info. She likes to say she is a "researcher", but I have a science based college degree and our ideas of research are different. I do think that she will at least back off a little with these two resources. It is a typical case of her not being educated about it, and that is causing some major fear.