60th Anniversary Of The Salk Polio Vaccine

[mrjarrell]

Here's a man who deserves a holiday in his name. He literally saved generations of Americans and other people all over the world from death and crippling paralysis. While we still have not managed to completely eradicate this disease from all places on the planet, (mainly due to ignorance and superstition) we have made enormous inroads and it is virtually extinct in the western world, due to diligent programs of eradication for our children. We must not let ignorance prevail and see a resurgence of this killer. I think David Brin has said it very well.

On April 12, 2015, we celebrate the 60th anniversary of a vaccine developed by Jonas Salk that prevented polio and drove it close to extinction. Just one result? Soon, a scientist, Jonas Salk, was the most popular man in America. A scientist. Inventor of vaccines.
http://www.npr.org/…/defeating-the-disease-that-paralyzed-a…
From the article: “Rumors spread that soft drinks were responsible — or too much rain or heat. In some places people stopped handling paper money and refused to shake hands. But mostly people mobilized to fight the disease by raising money for the March of Dimes, which promised us a life-saving protective vaccine. And, in the end, it gave us two vaccines — the injected killed-virus version of Jonas Salk and the oral live-virus version of Albert Sabin."
Too bad Salk couldn’t come up with a vaccine against stupid. Can you imagine a nationally-beloved scientist today, despite the endless wave of bona fide miracles we benefit from, weekly? Merchants of fear in mass media has overwhelmed any sense of gratitude. Moreover, while some brands of dogmatic idiocy are solely the product of a fervid and jibbering insane American right, our “anti-vaxxer” movement spans the spectrum, sweeping up gullible romantics also on a vapid far-left.
Call up this article, if only to copy the lead photo, showing several dozen children surviving their polio paralysis only inside a coffin-like iron lung. Show the picture to your troglodyte-romantic friends and tell them that the War on Science is an addiction of fools who have misplaced their Suspicion of Authority (SoA) reflex.
Generally, SoA is a healthy reflex! But one requiring care and thought and not the lowest of all human vices. Ingratitude.

Defeating Polio, The Disease That Paralyzed America : NPR History Dept. : NPR

 

[mbills2223]

A wise man indeed

 

[bradmedic04]

IB anti-vaxxers.

 

[mbills2223]

IB anti-vaxxers.

something something autism

 

[bradmedic04]

something something autism

Something something government something liberty something!

 

[Leadeye]

People like this were the giants of an earlier era. When asked about patenting the vaccine he refused saying that it would be like patenting the sun. Can you imagine big pharma doing something like that today? To think that he started out life wanting to be a lawyer.

 

[Dean C.]

VACCINES,AUTISM!?!?!?!?!?!?!??! Oh wait I have common sense....... Thank you Jonas Salk for your great contribution to society and the world.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Common sense on INGO? Reported!

Defeating polio had nothing to do with science and vaccines, but rather it was defeated by floor sweeping and crystals.

 

[steveh_131]

A holiday for Jonas? Should we celebrate his unethical medical experiments upon helpless institutionalized mental patients? No? Ok, then let's talk about the vaccine.

On one point we would probably all agree: Polio diagnoses declined following the introduction of the vaccine in 1955. There is certainly a correlation to be explored. In order to fully explore that correlation we need to examine any other variables that may have led to that decline beginning in 1955. I have a few to offer. Many of these quotes are by Dr. Bernard Greenberg, a remarkable and well respected physician of his time.

1. Prior to 1955, poliomyelitis was an easy diagnosis to obtain with financial benefits for the patient in doing so. Funds were available to help pay the medical expenses of poliomyelitis.
2. In 1955 the diagnostic criteria for poliomyelitis was altered and became substantially more strict. The only requirement in 1954 was two examinations at least 24 hours apart showing partial or complete paralysis. In 1955, this was modified to require paralysis lasting at least 60 days.
3. During this same period, coxsackie viral infections and aseptic meningitis were distinguished from paralytic poliomyelitis. "Prior to 1954, large numbers of these cases undoubtedly were mislabeled as paralytic polio."
4. Most physicians were convinced of the efficacy of the vaccine, causing biases during diagnosis after its release. Patients showing polio-like symptoms were almost always diagnosed with something else, if they had received the appropriate number of polio vaccines. [I'm not fond of this source, but the article was printed in 1960 and I can't find a scan of the original anywhere.]

It must be understood that prior to 1955, polio diagnosis was nothing more than an observation of symptoms of paralysis. There were very few other known causes at the time, and a polio diagnosis came with monetary benefits for the patient.

If we looked at many of these patients today, there is no telling what myriad of diagnoses we might have come up with - and how few of them might have been polio. For example, it has been theorized that the famous polio sufferer F.D.R. may have actually had a form of Guillain–Barre syndrome. How many others were mis-diagnosed?

Has Polio been 'eradicated' by a vaccine, or was polio simply a catch-all diagnosis for every patient that showed paralysis, and its use declined over the years as we have discovered the real causes for some of these symptoms? There's no way to be certain, but I wouldn't call it 'settled'.

Salk's vaccine largely failed. His safety procedures (which he claimed as 100% safe) for killing the virus failed on numerous occasions, resulting in many deaths from vaccines containing 'live' viruses. The efficacy of his vaccine was questioned by many of his contemporaries. The government and medical establishment pushed it on people regardless, considering it the 'best option' because of the panic surrounding polio at the time. He may have been a talented scientist, but I wouldn't declare a national holiday on his behalf.

 

[HoughMade]

YES!!!

INGO NEVER disappoints!

 

[Woobie]

This should be good

 

[steveh_131]

YES!!!

INGO NEVER disappoints!

Sorry I'm late, guys. Unlike the other posts, I actually did some research

 

[chezuki]

YES!!!

INGO NEVER disappoints!

Whew... I was starting to worry this one would slip through the the tinfoil.



Someone get a mop ready, mbills' head is about to explode.

 

[HoughMade]

Sorry I'm late, guys. Unlike the other posts, I actually did some research

I appreciate the work you put in.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

 

[miguel]

TAKIN' IT TO DA HOOP!!!

 

[Kirk Freeman]

INGO NEVER disappoints!

INGO Research Division:

 

[steveh_131]

INGO Research Division:

My research predates her birth.

 

[steveh_131]

Let's examine some more propaganda in this NPR article.

Within two years of the 1955 announcement, U.S. polio cases dropped 85 to 90 percent, Joe Palca of NPR reported.

Thanks, Joe Palca. Very interesting. I see that you cherry-picked the time frame of 1955-1957. I wonder why that is?

Your lower end, 1955, makes sense because it is the date of the vaccine release. However, shouldn't we discuss the huge downward trend that began in 1952, 3 years before the vaccine was released? Why did polio cases drop by nearly 50% in a 3 year time frame before the vaccine?

Let's talk about the upper end of your time frame. 1957... what happened in 1957? Ahh yes, polio cases spiked, despite increases in vaccinations.

"In the fall of 1955, Dr. Langmuir had predicted that by 1957 there would be less than 100 cases of paralytic polio in the United States," commented Dr. Ratner. "Four years and 300 million doses of Salk vaccine later, we had in 1959 approximately 6,000 cases of paralytic polio, 1,000 of which were in persons who had received three and more shots of Salk Vaccine. Salk vaccine hasn't lived up to expectations."

 

[MrSmitty]

My brother contracted Polio, at the age of 2, he lost most of the muscle in his left leg before he was diagnosed with it, he then received the vaccine. He has led a rather productive life......so I'm guessing he is glad he came up with the vaccine.....