In 1955, a polio vaccine mishap known as the Cutter Incident affected 200,000 children in the U.S., leading to 40,000 polio cases, 200 children with varying degrees of paralysis, and several dozen deaths. The author’s family was directly impacted when three of her cousins received the vaccine, which was supposed to be inactivated but wasn’t. Her aunt, Jean, contracted polio from her children, spending six months in an iron lung and facing a grim prognosis. Despite this tragedy, the family’s faith in vaccines remained unshaken. Before the vaccine, polio caused tens of thousands of cases of paralysis or death annually. The incident highlighted the imperfections of science but also its capacity for self-correction. The author’s aunt lived to 70, embracing life despite her disability, and the family continued to support vaccination, recognizing the greater good it served.
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