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Polio vs Covid

Polio vs Covid: Why the Enforcement Disparity?

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Vaccine efforts have been a top priority for the Biden Administration. In fact, the US Government is more concerned with vaccination status than disease itself. Foreigners can enter the country when testing positive for Covid, but the unvaccinated remain banned from entering the nation. 

Apparently, the vaccine mania is Covid-specific. Monday, the New York Post reported that 50 percent of illegal immigrants entering New York City are not vaccinated against polio. 

“More than 50,000 people have come to New York City (NYC) in the past year shortly after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. As more people arrive and many make NYC their home, the scale and scope of need continues to grow,” NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan wrote to health care providers on April 11. 

Currently, the City Government spends $5 million per day on housing and feeding illegal immigrants in hotels and shelters. Overall, illegal immigrants will cost taxpayers in NYC over $4 billion this year. 

But in exchange for those public benefits, the recipients will not be required to provide the proof of medical care that tourists would be required to produce to visit Central Park or play in a tennis tournament

Previously, Mayor Eric Adams fired city employees for refusing to take the Covid vaccine. New York Governor Kathy Hocul claimed the vaccines were “from God” and called on her supporters to be her “apostles” in encouraging vaccination efforts. Yet, Adams and Hochul offer no similar rhetoric on the issue of importing polio into New York City and paying billions of dollars of taxpayer funds to do so. 

Polio and Covid offer a stark contrast. The former is devastating for children while the latter has minimal effects for non-senior citizens. The rate of paralysis in polio patients (0.5 percent) is 5 times higher than the death rate for Covid patients over the age of 75 (0.089 percent), 16 times higher than the death rate for Covid patients ages 65 to 74 (.031 percent), and over 50 times higher than the death rate for pediatric Covid patients (<0.01 percent). 

Similarly, treatment for the diseases demonstrate far different results. The polio vaccine, developed by Jonas Salk, effectively eradicated polio from the developed world. The CDC boasts, “Polio has been eliminated from the United States thanks to widespread polio vaccination in this country.” Despite grand promises, the Covid vaccines fail to prevent transmission or infection. 

The economics of the treatment programs also provide contrast. There was no patent for the polio vaccine, making it unprofitable for pharmaceutical companies. When asked who owned the vaccine, Salk responded, “Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?”

Meanwhile, Covid products have been lucrative for Big Pharma. Pfizer’s revenue reached a record $100 billion in 2021, The company’s Covid products, including its vaccine and Paxlovid, accounted for $57 billion of that income.

No matter the objective  – whether financial, political, or benign in nature – the enforcement disparity between polio and Covid vaccination demonstrates an irrational and capricious system of double standards.



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