I wrote about Polio HERE-Part I of Clues & HERE-Part II of Clues & HERE-Brodie POLIO Vaccine.
We certainly did get something worse than polio from the vaccines (Mouse & Monkey viruses).
Almost all people who contacted polio virus had no serious ill effects. For most people it was only a cold or no symptoms at all.
However as you will see in my first two articles, there were OTHER factors that turned the polio into paralysis - #1 tonsillectomies (which were VERY common then) #2 provocation polio caused by needles including vaccinations for Dipheria & Pertussis.
Fascinating. I hadn't thought about the tonsillectomy aspect before.