A World-Changing Vaccination Campaign, in Photos

In 1952, its peak year in the U.S., polio outbreaks left nearly 21,000 victims paralyzed and 3,000 dead. After the country introduced a vaccine, which became widely available in 1955, cases in the U.S. dropped to fewer than 100 per year within a decade.
Source: READ
September 15, 2025 @ 9:15 am
I was at my festival in my town this weekend and the Rotory International had a trailer there dedicated to Polio education, that is their one of their causes. The trailer had photos showing Polio wards, rows of iron lungs with dozens of people confined to them. The trailer contained an iron lung and had the bellows steadily working as it would if it had contained a patient to sustain. I was floored. I wanted to talk to someone in the organization but wasn’t sure I could compose myself to ask, “Why the fuck is this okay? Why do we have a vocal, growing sect in our country that doesn’t care to see or believe that all of this could be happening TODAY if a vaccine wasn’t discovered?!”