Polio was once the scourge of world back in the 20th century. At the height of the epidemics, there was an average of 35,000 new cases every year in the US alone. The big fear was that polio caused a large number of infected to become either partially or fully paralyzed, including the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Thankfully, a vaccine was created in 1955 and infection rates in nations that could afford it dropped drastically.

But there lies the caveat; only nations that could afford the vaccine benefitted. In other parts of the world polio was still a threat. Today, most people probably think polio went the way of smallpox and was eradicated. The truth is that while it’s no longer common, it still exists in impoverished nations. There are about 75 new cases every year which is a huge improvement over the 350,000 global infections in the 1970s. Now we have a new vaccine that specifically targets the remaining two strains of polio that still exists. The challenge is now a logistical one where all existing vaccines must now be swapped out with the new one.

Another new challenge comes from misinformed individuals that are driving the anti-vaccination movement. The movement stems from the idea that vaccinations are unnatural and do more harm than good. Nearly eradicated diseases that have vaccines are on the rise because people refuse to get vaccinated or allow their children to get vaccinated. Too bad there isn’t a vaccine for paranoia.