Ilan Noy, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington e Ami Neuberger, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
As the eradication of polio and the successful rollout of AIDS treatments have shown in the past, global cooperation in the face of COVID-19 is possible.
Elementary students initially received polio vaccines at school.
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Massive vaccine distribution efforts take a lot of coordination. The rollout of the Salk polio vaccine in the US in 1955 holds lessons for those delivering COVID-19 shots today.
Elvis Presley received a polio vaccination on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1956.
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The polio eradication programme in Africa directly combated a severe debilitating disease. But it also provided a platform for broader healthcare services on the continent.
Sewage testing can be used for early detection of disease.
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Identifying the emergence of a disease often relies on sick people seeking medical help. Wastewater monitoring can identify pathogens days or weeks earlier.
Vaccination rates may be tied to rates of COVID-19.
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A COVID-19 vaccine isn’t the only tool for fighting this pandemic. An immunologist argues that safe pneumonia vaccines would reduce the severity of COVID-19, save lives and prevent the worst cases.
Chicago students doing broadcasted ‘radio school’ lessons in 1937.
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This isn’t the first time America’s schoolchildren have studied remotely – and Chicago’s 1937 ‘radio school’ experiment shows how technology can fill the gap during a crisis.
Polio patient in an iron lung to help them breathe.
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The coronavirus pandemic isn’t the first time an illness has disrupted schooling. In 1937, Toronto schools delayed re-opening for six weeks in response to the polio epidemic.
President and Mrs. Roosevelt enjoying after-luncheon conversation with patients of the Warm Springs Foundation.
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s personal battle with polio, and his steady hand while overseeing a national eradication campaign, highlights decisive leadership against a virus that terrified America.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: at the helm of the WHO at a difficult time.
Salvatore Di Nolfi/EPA
The Trump administration has halted funding to the World Health Organization in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. But what does it actually do with its budget?
An emergency polio ward in Boston in 1955 equipped with iron lungs. These pressurized respirators acted as breathing muscles for polio victims, often children, who were paralyzed.
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Polio was nearly eradicated with the Salk vaccine in 1955. At the time, little was known about this mysterious disease that paralyzed and sometimes killed young children.
A Nigerian child receives a dose of the polio vaccine.
EPA
A challenge in eradicating polio comes from a version of the vaccine itself, which relies on live but attenuated virus. Rationally designing a new vaccine could help get rid of polio once and for all.
There is no cure for polio, and the vaccine remains the most effective way to combat the disease.
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A polio-like virus has afflicted more than 500 children in the US in the past five years. A doctor who has treated children with the disease explains the symptoms.