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This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.
Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
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FACT BRIEF

Do people who get the polio vaccine never have a breakthrough case?

By Alexis Tereszcuk
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NO

There is a post circulating on social media that someone would "have questions" if they had gotten several polio vaccines and still got polio. Another post makes the same statement about smallpox.

However, this is missing context. The polio vaccine does not offer absolute and complete protection against the disease. While three doses of the vaccine is considered 99% to 100% effective, polio breakthrough infections do rarely happen.

Due to a successful vaccination campaign, the World Health Assembly declared smallpox eradicated in 1980, and no cases of naturally occurring smallpox have happened since.

See a full discussion of this at Lead Stories
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Centers for Disease Control Polio Vaccine Effectiveness and Duration of Protection
Centers for Disease Control Erasing Polio
Centers for Disease Control Smallpox
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Lead Stories
Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.