Polio Survivors and the Flu Vaccine

Question: Is there a definitive medical position if polio survivors should take the flu vaccine each year? Last year when I went to get the vaccine, the staff notified me that Guillain-Barré syndrome
is one of the risk factors of the vaccine. Should one not take the vaccine if you have a history of paralysis?

Answer: My opinion is that there is no evidence to say that having a history of paralysis (residual muscle weakness) after poliovirus infection would raise your risk of new paralysis or other
complications after flu vaccinations. Recently the question of risks to polio survivors from taking the new ‘shingles virus’ vaccine was raised among the PHI Medical Advisory committee
members. The unanimous consensus was there was no known reason to anticipate increased risk for polio survivors.

Post-Polio Health (Vol. 25, No. 4, Winter 2009)