diff --git a/common/static/js/src/ReactRenderer.jsx b/common/static/js/src/ReactRenderer.jsx
index 1876dfb478..db5a5f1764 100644
--- a/common/static/js/src/ReactRenderer.jsx
+++ b/common/static/js/src/ReactRenderer.jsx
@@ -1,10 +1,6 @@
 import React from 'react';
 import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
 
-// babel-polyfill must be imported last because of https://github.com/facebook/react/issues/8379
-// which otherwise causes "Objects are not valid as a react child" errors in IE11.
-import 'babel-polyfill';
-
 class ReactRendererException extends Error {
   constructor(message) {
     super(`ReactRendererException: ${message}`);
diff --git a/webpack.common.config.js b/webpack.common.config.js
index e4602d30e5..3ed9cb8d4b 100644
--- a/webpack.common.config.js
+++ b/webpack.common.config.js
@@ -79,7 +79,8 @@ module.exports = Merge.smart({
         ReactRenderer: './common/static/js/src/ReactRenderer.jsx',
         XModuleShim: 'xmodule/js/src/xmodule.js',
 
-        VerticalStudentView: './common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/assets/vertical/public/js/vertical_student_view.js'
+        VerticalStudentView: './common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/assets/vertical/public/js/vertical_student_view.js',
+        commons : 'babel-polyfill',
     },
 
     output: {