Latest news with #JonasSalk
CBC
28-04-2025
- Health
- CBC
How Elvis got teens vaccinated against polio
Back in the 1950's, the polio epidemic spread across the world. Scientists hoped a vaccine would eliminate the dreaded disease. In 1954, the New York City Health Department launched a massive publicity campaign to promote polio vaccinations. The vaccination had been developed by Jonas Salk. Over 900,000 New Yorkers got vaccinated, and the number of new polio cases in the city fell to almost zero. But then something happened. Columnist and media personality Walter Winchell threw cold water on the initiative, saying the vaccine might, in fact, cause deaths. His influence stoked fear among teenagers – who were at the highest risk of contracting polio – so they stopped getting vaccinated. Immunization levels among teens dropped to an abysmal 0.6 percent, and polio was paralyzing an average of 35,000 kids annually. The medical community needed a way to reach those teenagers. So they turned to someone who had incredible sway over that demographic. Elvis Presley's career had skyrocketed after his historic appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. In 1956, "Heartbreak Hotel" had reached #1 on the charts, and Love Me Tender, his debut film, would be released that November. So on September 9, 1956, before the Ed Sullivan Show started, Presley smiled, rolled up his sleeves in front of the press, and Sullivan himself, and let a doctor and nurse give him a polio shot in his arm. Elvis publicized the moment by sending photos of his inoculation out across the nation. Teens all across Canada and the United States followed in Elvis's footsteps and got the polio shot. As a matter of fact, vaccination rates among youth soared to 80 percent just six months later. That was Elvis's superpower. He was admired by the hardest-to-reach population – teenagers. Seeing him get vaccinated was far more powerful than any statistic, political speech, or sombre commercial. In many ways, that photo of Elvis was one of the most effective public service messages of all time.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Deseret News archives: Salk and brave ‘pioneers' beat polio with vaccine in 1955
A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives. On April 12, 1955, the polio vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk was declared safe and effective following nearly a year of field trials undertaken by about 1.8 million American child volunteers dubbed 'polio pioneers.' The front page of the Deseret News heralded the triumph, and noted Utah's participation in the pioneering effort. Knocking down polio was the biggest medical experiment ever, the national field test of the vaccine that defeated polio. In the early 1950s, polio would strike more than 50,000 people during a single peak epidemic year. Thousands of children were paralyzed. Many died. Many more were unable to breathe without an iron lung. In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, himself a polio victim, established the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, with a goal to care for polio victims and help overcome the disease. Children participated in the annual March of Dimes to collect money for polio research. In April 1954, the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis began vaccinating the 1.8 million schoolchildren with a polio vaccine developed by Dr. Salk. Delivered by syringe, the Salk vaccine — plus an oral compound later concocted by Dr. Albert B. Sabin — eventually all but eliminated polio. Field trials were carried out early in 1954. Altogether, 1.8 million children in first, second and third grade were given a series of three shots. Typically, the vaccinations were spaced a month apart. In 1960, Salk established the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, a San Diego suburb. The institute became a leading biomedical research center. Salk conducted research on multiple sclerosis and cancer before retiring from his own laboratory in 1984. He continued to maintain offices at the institute and, in 1987, co-founded Immune Response Corp. in Carlsbad to search for an AIDS vaccine. He died in 1995. Here are some stories from Deseret News archives about eradicating polio, what it took from the American public and how we have dealt with disease and vaccinations since: 'Utahns recall polio's impact' '`Polio pioneers' began quest to conquer illness 40 years ago' 'Vaccine years away for AIDS, but efforts are showing promise' 'A miracle, or a scientific feat? Vaccines can be both' 'One step at a time: Salt Lake City researcher records post-polio syndrome' 'Support group validates polio survivors' 'Salk honored 40 years after banishing fear' 'Jonas Salk, eradicator of polio, dies' 'Here's why Utah is looking at monitoring wastewater for polio' ''Polio' is important history of disease'
Axios
08-04-2025
- Health
- Axios
Utah's jubilant reception for the polio vaccine
Seventy years ago this week, Utah joined the nation in celebrating the announcement that Jonas Salk's polio vaccine was safe and effective. This is Old News, our weekly injection of Utah history. Why it mattered: Previously there had been up to 21,000 new U.S. cases per year of paralytic polio — overwhelmingly affecting young children. Zoom in: Utahns were both jubilant and proud. About 20,000 kids here had joined in the trials a year earlier. Research at the University of Utah was instrumental to identifying the many strains of polio — a necessary first step in developing a vaccine. By the numbers: On average, more than 16,000 U.S. cases were reported annually in the years leading up to the vaccine's release. By 1962, that number was down to 1,000. After that, the number stayed below 100. Polio was eradicated from the U.S. by 1979, per the CDC. The intrigue: Anti-vaccine sentiments have since become a point of conservative political identity, chipping away at childhood immunization rates in Utah and elsewhere. Context: Childhood immunizations have sharply declined in recent years — including the polio vaccine. Nearly 1 in 10 Utah kindergarteners were not documented as being immunized for polio in 2023, the most recent year for which data is available. The latest: President Trump's health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who visited Utah on Monday to highlight the state's new ban on fluoride in public water systems — has falsely claimed the polio vaccine did not actually result in a drastic decline in infections. He also claimed the vaccine may have caused cancers that killed more people than polio did because of some early contaminated doses. Most studies have shown no connection between those early shots and cancer, and researchers have been unable to replicate the one study that did, the AP reported. Caveat: Kennedy has since vowed not to withdraw the polio vaccine's approval, even though one of his campaign operatives has petitioned the FDA to revoke it. • During his Senate confirmation this year, he acknowledged the polio vaccine is safe and effective.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
On This Day, March 26: U.S. unemployment adds record 3.3M claims
March 26 (UPI) -- On this date in history: In 1830, the Book of Mormon was published. There are about 200 surviving first editions of the book, one of which was stolen before being returned to its owner in 2013. In 1953, U.S. Dr. Jonas Salk announced he had successfully tested a vaccine against poliomyelitis, the virus that causes polio. In 1971, East Pakistan declared independence as Bangladesh, sparking the Bangladesh Liberation War. The war ended Dec. 16, 1971, when West Pakistan surrendered. In 1975, the city of Hue in South Vietnam fell to the North Vietnamese army. In 1979, Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty at the White House, ending 30 years of hostilities. In 1991, Mali's dictator, Gen. Moussa Traore, was overthrown in a violent overnight military coup. Fifty-nine people died. In 1992, former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, convicted of raping a teenage beauty pageant contestant, was sentenced to six years in prison. Tyson was released after three years. In 1997, 39 members of the Heaven's Gate religious cult were found dead in a large house in Rancho Mirage, Calif., in what authorities said was a mass suicide. In 1998, Bill Clinton became the first U.S. president to visit South Africa. In 1999, Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the euthanasia advocate, was convicted of second-degree murder in an Oakland County, Mich., courtroom for the videotaped "medicide" of a man suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease. In 2000, acting Russian President Vladimir Putin was elected president by a more than 20 percent margin. Putin won a third term in 2012. In 2014, a National Labor Relations Board regional director ruled that Northwestern University scholarship football players were employees of the school and entitled under federal law to form a union. In 2020, new unemployment claims in the United States surged to 3.3. million, the largest weekly increase in U.S. history to date amid job losses related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024, a Singapore-based cargo ship struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, causing a catastrophic collapse of the structure. Six people died in the failure of the bridge, which crossed the Patapsco River.
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
On This Day, Feb. 23: Mexico begins assault on the Alamo
Feb. 23 (UPI) -- On this date in history: In 1836, soldiers under the command of Mexican President General Antonio López de Santa Anna began their assault on the Alamo Mission near present-day San Antonio, Texas. Eleven days later, the Alamo's small group of Texian (Texan) defenders were defeated by the 1500-plus Mexican Army. In 1903, the United States was granted a lease "in perpetuity" on Guantanamo Bay by Cuban officials. In 1942, a Japanese submarine surfaced off the coast of California and fired 25 shells at an oil refinery near Santa Barbara. In 1945, members of the 5th Division of the U.S. Marines planted a U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi on the strategically important Pacific island of Iwo Jima near the end of one of World War II's bloodiest battles. In 1954, Dr. Jonas Salk's new polio vaccine was administered to a group of children in Pittsburgh in the second stage of testing of his inactivated polio vaccine.. Millions of children would get the vaccine in the next year. In 1981, right-wing troops seeking to topple Spain's democracy seized Parliament and its 350 deputies in a blaze of gunfire. The attempted military revolt was quelled when King Juan Carlos called for calm and loyalty. In 1982, Canada, Japan and the Common Market nations of Europe joined the United States in economic and diplomatic sanctions against Poland and the Soviet Union to protest imposition of martial law in Poland. In 1991, military forces in Thailand overthrew the elected government and imposed martial law. In 1994, Bosnia's warring Croats and Muslims signed a cease-fire. The Croats agreed to pull back from the Muslim city of Mostar, which had been under siege. In 1999, a jury in Jasper, Texas, convicted self-described white supremacist John King in the June 1998 killing of a Black man who'd been dragged to his death behind a pickup truck. Two days later, King was sentenced to death. In 2006, the snow-covered roof of a Moscow vegetable market collapsed, killing at least 60 people and injuring more than two dozen others. In 2013, Iran's atomic energy agency announced plans to build 16 nuclear power plants throughout the country. The announcement came days before Iran was to resume talks on its internationally disputed nuclear program. In 2020, Chinese President Xi Jinping declared the coronavirus epidemic the greatest public health emergency since 1949. Meanwhile, Italy became the epicenter of the first COVID-19 outbreak in Europe, with 132 cases. In 2023, disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to an additional 16 years behind bars in California after being convicted of three counts of rape and sexual assault. He was already serving a 23-year prison sentence that was handed down after another rape trial in New York.
