Polio patients at Rancho Los Amigos Hospital in California, 1955 - Mutter Museum Philadelphia

Image from preview.redd.it and submitted by st314
image showing Polio patients at Rancho Los Amigos Hospital in California, 1955 - Mutter Museum Philadelphia

st314 on December 13rd, 2024 at 15:04 UTC »

In 1916, as an example, New York had more than 27,000 childhood Polio cases and 6,000 deaths. The disease devastated tens of thousands of young lives every year

The first polio vaccine (Jonas Salk) arrived at the Mayo Clinic on April 13, 1955, one day after it was licensed in the U.S. Parents rejoiced and lined up to vaccinate their kids

By 1994 Polio was eliminated in north and South America. Now RFK Jr. will bring back untold misery, disability, and death to tens of thousands of children

Cheetotiki on December 13rd, 2024 at 15:06 UTC »

This is what's so crazy, especially from the perspective of people like me who were around back then. It was devastating and horrible, and you saw people struggling with polio effects on the street. Huge rooms of iron lungs at many hospitals. And a single vaccine changed all that. Who would really want to go back to that, make it a "choice" that impacts their fellow citizens?

loverlyone on December 13rd, 2024 at 15:27 UTC »

My grand uncle had polio and it left him with a limp and other physical limitations. His self esteem was so damaged by it that he never left home. Never married and never had a life outside of work, which was a family business.