Vaccination campaigns like the ones that eventually eliminated polio and measles in the United States required decades of education and awareness in order to achieve herd immunity in the U.S. population.
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A critical care doctor brings a frontlines perspective to the frustration of dealing firsthand with vaccine hesitancy and discusses the limitations of science and medicine.
A child gets a dose of the oral polio vaccine.
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Wayne Howard, National Institute for Communicable Diseases and Melinda Suchard, National Institute for Communicable Diseases
Outbreaks of polio have become a thing of the past, told to us by our grandparents, only because of vaccination.
A high school student gets his COVID-19 shot at a pop-up vaccine clinic at a public charter school in Los Angeles.
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For decades, US schools have been common sites for vaccine clinics to respond to outbreaks and provide catch-up immunizations. So why are they suddenly controversial?
Two public health nurses vaccinate adults at a polio clinic in Southey, Sask. in 1960.
(Canadian Nurses Association fonds. Library and Archives Canada)
At the height of polio and H1N1, Canadians were keen to get vaccinated, but vaccine enthusiasm waned once the crisis had passed — what does that mean for COVID-19?
Empathetically exploring the positive motivations of people who are vaccine hesitant may help improve acceptance for COVID-19 vaccines and others.
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From maternity wards to primary care, Canadian researchers are looking to find the positive motivations of vaccine hesitant people, whether they are new parents or other adults.
In a pandemic, vaccines are in very high demand, and this threatens their supply.
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In 1959, three armed men broke into the University of Montréal and stole the whole supply of polio vaccine — 75,000 vials valued at $50,000. What have we learned from this event?
Ilan Noy, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington and 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.
Senior Lecturer, School of Computing and Information Systems, University of Melbourne; Senior Research Fellow, Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, The University of Melbourne