Responding to the anti-vaccine myth that the “polio vaccine can cause cancer” takes much more time than the investment of the anti-vaccine forces. As a scientific skeptic, with, I hope, above-average critical thinking skills, I want to smash the myth into tiny little pieces.
According to the anti-vaccine disinformation, the myth about the polio vaccine and cancer started when the CDC supposedly admitted that 98 million Americans received the polio vaccine during an 8-year span when it was contaminated with a cancer virus. Other websites essentially repeated the same nonsense.
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Upon further review of the initial studies, it was observed hamsters that ingested [virus] SV40, instead of being injected with it, didn’t develop any cancers. In other words, [Albert] Sabin’s live oral vaccine could not cause any cancer. Additional studies showed that children who were given Sabin’s oral vaccine did not develop antibodies to SV40 – apparently, the virus quickly and safely passed through the child’s digestive system, never causing an SV40 infection.
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We also know, as established by numerous peer-reviewed articles, that SV40 probably does not cause any kind of cancer in humans.
