Then & Now

In the mid twentieth century over half a million people worldwide were killed or paralyzed each year by polio. In 1953 there were 3,000 deaths in the US. In 1953 Dr. Jonas Salk tested his new vaccine on his own family members. The new vaccine was officially licensed in April, 1955 and the Mayo Clinic received the new vaccine the next day on April 13, 1955. Many of you may remember receiving the vaccine shot and later taking the oral dose drops on a sugar cube. In 1979 polio was declared eliminated from the US but there are still new cases that appear each year for this dreaded disease. President Franklin Roosevelt’s personal struggle with polio led to the creation of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis in January, 1938 which is better known as the March of Dimes. Polio information ads are from the archives of the DCI newspaper.