Early batches of poliovirus vaccine used in the late 1950s and early 1960s were contaminated with a monkey virus called Simian Virus 40, or SV40. Recently an investigator found proteins made by SV40 virus in unusual tumors in adults. The studies were suggestive enough that the National Institutes of Health continued to research the association. However, subsequent studies have not confirmed the initial observation. Nevertheless, no currently manufactured polio vaccines contain SV40, so current poliovirus vaccines pose no risk of ill effects from the virus. You can read more about vaccine myths in my book God’s Design for the Highly Healthy Child. 

The Miss America winner was reputed to have become permanently deaf because of a bad DTP vaccine, but this story was totally false. Her deafness actually occurred after she contracted bacterial meningitis caused by Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), a bacterium for which a vaccine has since become available. Fortunately, the Hib vaccine has virtually eliminated Hib meningitis and its resulting deafness. 

You can read more about vaccines and vaccine myths in my book God’s Design for the Highly Healthy Child.