Following the 1988 World Health Assembly declaration to eradicate polio by the year 2000, to which India was a signatory, India ran intensive pulse polio immunization campaigns since 1995 [1]. After 19 years, in 2014, polio was declared officially eradicated in India. India was formally acknowledged by WHO as being free of polio [2].

However, an in depth analysis of the India’s polio eradication campaign reveals facts that contradict this narrative and call the ethics of the entire vaccination campaign into question. Some of the facts are highlighted below

Using a consistent definition, there’s no evidence polio was eradicated: Using a consistent definition of a polio case, there is no evidence that polio got eradicated. In fact, if one were to go by the traditional way where all acute flaccid paralysis cases used to classify as polio, polio cases actually skyrocketed as the vaccination programs intensified. However, India opted for WHO’s criteria for diagnosing polio since 1997, which led to a change in definition of polio and consequently a drastic drop in cases of polio, despite a sustained increase in cases of acute flaccid paralysis which pre-1997 used to be classified as polio. [1, 3, 4]
The entire immunization programme was an exercise in eliminating wild polio viruses from stool specimens, not reducing incidence of acute flaccid paralysis: While the mainstream narrative indicated that the vaccine was reducing incidence of paralysis from polio, Dr. T. Jacob John, chairman of the polio eradication committee, made it clear that the aim was to only eradicate wild viruses from stool specimens, not the incidence of acute flaccid paralysis. [5]
Deliberate Violation of informed consent: It was known by members of the polio eradication committee that the vaccine itself can cause polio – a condition called VAPP or vaccine associated paralytic poliomyelitis. This known side effect was deliberately hidden from the public and parents of the vaccinated children, with full knowledge of WHO and UNICEF. Worse, polio induced by the vaccine was paradoxically classified as non-polio. [6, 7, 1, 8, 9 ]
Coercion to vaccinate:There were reports of coercion where families were threatened with power cuts and no ration if they refused to vaccinate their child. [7]
Several red flags about vaccine failure:A disproportionately high number of polio cases were vaccinated. There was no effort made to study in detail the cause of vaccine failure and vaccine induced polio [ 7, 4, 10]. A study by Dr. Pulliyel et al.actually indicated a strong association between rise in cases of acute flaccid paralysis and the polio campaign. [11]. Similar observation was made in another study of 9 AFP cases, where children had received upto an astonishing 25 doses. [12]
Indiscriminate repeated vaccination with no safety studies: While the original dosage recommendation for the polio vaccine had been 3 doses, in India’s case it steadily increased to 7 and then to theoretically 10 doses [13, 9]. It was reported that 70 million children received 10 doses a year [14 ]. Many children received upto 25 doses, prompting concerns of safety from the Indian Medical Association which was ignored by the government. [15]
Poor surveillance of side effects implies that there was likely an incalculable number of serious adverse events:India has had poor post marketing surveillance of adverse events and it is difficult to gauge the entire spectrum of adverse events from vaccinations [17]. As recently as 2018, a former member of NTAGI (National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization) acknowledged that AEFI (Adverse Events Following Immunization) in India was less than adequate and adverse events underreported as the AEFI committee sat only 4 times a year and analyzed 100 cases at a time, a very small number given the thousands of adverse events reported annually [16]. There were reports of children getting brain stroke, going blind and even dying post the vaccination. [18, 19, 20]
Lack of justice for vaccine victims: While adverse effects like vaccine induced polio were deliberately hidden, there was no compensation scheme in place. In matters where victims went to court and were able to successfully fight for compensation, the settlement in some of such cases took 10 to 25 years. [21, 22]

In short, what actually happened on the ground seems to completely contradict what has been disseminated and publicized through mainstream media. One can argue with the above facts that the entire polio vaccination programme is mired in controversy and unscientific principles that actually led to incalculable suffering and misery.

1. Using a consistent definition, there’s no evidence polio was eradicated

1.1 Comparison of Polio Incidence using old and new definitions

Using a consistent definition of a polio case, there is no evidence that polio got eradicated. In fact, if one were to go by the traditional way where all acute flaccid paralysis cases were classified as polio, polio cases actually skyrocketed as the vaccination programs intensified. However, India opted for WHO’s criteria for diagnosing polio since 1997, which led to a change in definition of polio and consequently a drastic drop in cases of polio, despite a sustained increase in cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) which pre-1997 used to be classified as polio. [1, 3, 4]

“Upto 1996 all reported cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) were labelled as polio cases” – Dr. Yash Paul, former member of India’s Polio Eradication Committee [1]

“All polio cases reported before 1997 were confirmed by attending physicians with no standard case definition.” – CDC [23]

As can be seen in the chart below, polio was actually on the decline before the introduction of pulse polio immunizations in 1995. This decline correlated well with the decline in use of DDT (details in section 1.3). Subsequently, the recorded cases of acute flaccid paralysis (or polio per the pre-1997 classification) skyrocketed, a strong signal raising the question if the vaccination programme was responsible for much of this rise. [26, 27, 1, 28, 29]

Polio Cases in India – Old Definition and New Definition

Based on published research, it can be argued that many of the case of acute flaccid paralysis were triggered by the vaccine itself. Oral Polio vaccine can trigger polio itself (called vaccine associated paralytic poliomyelitis or VAPP) [3] and other so called “non-polio acute flaccid paralysis” cases such as Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), transverse myelitis and facial paralysis. Supplements 1,2 and 3 highlight literature from the early to mid 20th century, primarily before the widespread use of vaccines, about the classification of GBS, transverse myelitis and Bell’s palsy as different types of poliomyelitis.

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(Source: vratesh.substack.com; November 19, 2023; https://tinyurl.com/yr8frdv8)