When was the last time you heard the word “polio?” It was probably in reference to a vaccine, not the disease. So thoroughly have the effects of polio vaccination been felt that less than 2,000 cases exist each year and only in remote regions of Nigeria, India, and Pakistan. Ridding the world of it forever (in other words, complete eradication, like with smallpox) is in sight.
Polio once caused swimming pools and movie theaters to shut down in order to prevent possible venues to transmit disease, so Oshinsky tells us in this well-told history. The verification of the Salk vaccine produced utter euphoria in America and amplified the American ethic of can-do-know-how-ism.
He also shares the tale of the rivalry between polio virologists Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin (and truth be told, other virologists as well). Both deserve credit for their cure and for their respective work, each producing an effective vaccine. However, both had different methods, different audiences, and different attitudes. Fortunately for us, each vaccine could serve its part to contribute to the global effort to eradicate polio – even if their respective inventors could not get along.
As such, this book teaches functions not merely as another history of disease but also as an important commentary on the culture of science. It teaches us how to get along and how to work together – especially when we work differently than the people sitting next to us. This intricately human story should not perish among the annals of American history.
Polio: An American Story
by David M. Oshinsky
Copyright (c) 2005
ISBN13: 9780195307146
Page count: 342
Genre: History of Disease, American History
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