In 1952, 21,000 paralytic cases of Polio occurred in the United States. In the two decades following, only 152 cases were reported. 99% of the crippling disease was wiped out, virtually overnight, with the help of Jonas Salk’s Polio vaccine. Today, it seems that some have taken a step backwards with the refusal to vaccinate themselves or their own children. Is there even a veiled truth to the dangers of vaccines? How dangerous is this trend if it continues to gather momentum?
Vaccines Work: Here Are The Facts [The Nib]
Maki Naro
Cartoon (5 minutes)
“Medical technology has advanced further in the last 100 years than it has throughout history, and we owe so much of that to vaccines…”
Roald Dahl’s Heartbreaking Take on Vaccines [Daily KOs]
Chris Reeves
Article (5 minutes)
“‘Are you feeling all right?’ I asked her. ‘I feel all sleepy,’ she said. In an hour, she was unconscious. In twelve hours, she was dead…”
The Troubling Reason Why Vaccines Are Made Too Late … if They’re Made At All [TED]
Seth Berkley
Video (7 minutes)
“We’ve actually had vaccine candidates for Ebola availble now for more than a decade. Why is it that those vaccines are just going into clinical studies now?”
Medicine: Closing in on Polio (Monday, March 29, 1954) [TIME]
Article (11 minutes)
“A few months after the 1954 polio season is over, statisticians will dredge from a mountain of records an answer to the question: Does the Salk vaccine give effective protection against polio?”
Meningitis: A Shot of Hope [LinkTV]
Documentary (47 minutes)
The documentary tells the uplifting story of a group of determined scientists, drug makers, and philanthropists who set out to tackle Meningitis, one of Africa’s deadliest diseases. For over a century, Meningitis epidemics claimed thousands of lives in sub-Saharan Africa. Without a long-lasting vaccine, nothing could be done to prevent massive outbreaks. But despite lack of interest from the major pharmaceutical companies, scientists managed to develop a vaccine for Meningitis A that has in just five years wiped out the disease — at a cost of only 50 cents a dose. It is also the first injection that does not have to be refrigerated all the time, which means it is reaching more people in remote places…
The Danger of Science Denial [TED]
Michael Specter
TED Talk (19 minutes)
“Everyone’s entitled to their opinion. They’re even entitled to their opinion on progress. But do you know what you’re not entitled to? You’re not entitled to your own facts. Sorry, you’re not…”
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Nathan Rott, Reporter @ NPR
@NathanRott
