March 27, 2025

Several U.S.-based social media accounts, including one known for promoting anti-vaccine falsehoods, have shared a recent interview between a known conspiracy theorist podcaster and a U.S. physician. The physician repeats multiple unfounded claims about polio that have been repeatedly debunked, including that it is caused by the pesticide DDT, that poliovirus itself is “mostly harmless,” and suggesting that increased sanitation, not vaccines, led to polio’s decline. Some posts garnered significant engagement, with one receiving 2,000 comments and another accumulating 25 million views. While some comments echoed anti-vaccine claims and warned people against vaccines more generally, several criticized the podcaster and his anti-vaccine, so-called “junk science” claims.

Geography: EAPR: Indonesia; ESAR: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Madagascar; WCAR: Kenya, Nigeria, Guinea, Togo, Liberia; MENA: Yemen; Global (Other): United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil

Themes: Safety and side effects, Effectiveness, Conspiracy theories, Necessity, Ingredients, Research and clinical trials

Risk Assessment: The posts’ high engagement increases their risk, but this is countered by being shared mainly among U.S.-based accounts. Messaging may emphasize that OPV has been instrumental in reducing polio cases globally and that all countries that have eradicated polio have done so using the polio vaccine. Like the continuous spread of misinformation about whether or not the polio vaccine can cause polio, the myth that polio and other vaccine-preventable diseases are caused by environmental factors has been used to argue against the use of vaccines for decades. Messaging may explain that polio is caused by poliovirus, not by exposure to pesticides, lead, arsenic, or any other chemical