THE POLIO MUDDLE---THE NATIONAL HEALTH FEDERATION BULLETIN 1959
Volume V July - August
Numbers 7-8 Adventures on Health Frontiers 1959
Published Bi-monthly
THE POLIO MUDDLE
Editorial
"And they all with one consent began to make excuses." That’s what the polio vaccine muddle begins to look like. We have tried to follow the polio vaccine matter for the past three years by reading the daily papers, the national magazines and both federal and state health department reports. To say the least, we are in a state of confusion. In this issue we shall bring you items from the papers, national magazines and governmental reports, so that you will be as confused as we are.
Our reason for featuring the polio matter in this issue is, several states are trying to enact compulsory polio vaccination laws and two have already done so. While Tennessee does not have a compulsory law, its public health director has taken the matter into his own hands and has ruled that it is illegal for anyone to send a child to school unless he has been immunized against polio. If you don’t send the child to school you will be arrested, so who makes the law in America? We wonder how any lawmaker can ever think of voting for legislation of this nature when no one knows yet whether the polio vaccine is good or bad. Certainly we know the proponents are in disagreement. Salk blames the makers of the vaccine and the makers say the formula is not right. When the vaccine was first given very bad results followed. Cutter Laboratories got the blame. Then people who were vaccinated still got polio. The departments of health and the manufacturers then said the vaccine was only effective against the type which causes paralysis. Next, when those vaccinated still got the type which caused paralysis we were told you must have two shots. Still those vaccinated came down with the paralytic type and we were told we must have three shots — that would do the trick. Still today we have those with three shots contracting the paralytic type of polio and we are told we should have four shots, and probably the job will have to be done over every eighteen months, or less. We ask, where do we go from here?
As you peruse the pages of this Bulletin you will find news items and reports which would lead anyone, who will think the problem through, to conclude that in proportion to the percentage of the population vaccinated, the same percentage of those vaccinated have polio of the paralytic type as those who have not been vaccinated. This regardless of whether one, two or three shots had been had.
To be fair, we must state that since the inauguration of the Salk polio shots the governmental agencies in order to make a good showing, adopted a policy of listing as polio victims only those who were proved so by laboratory tests. Before the inauguration of this policy anyone with the right symptoms was listed as a polio victim. This new procedure reduced the total number of folks recorded
paralytic polio because the overall total of all cases was reduced. This does not, however, affect the fact that practically the same percentage of vaccinated have paralytic polio as the unvaccinated.
To make the matter more confusing, about the time the United States Departments of Public Health became the salesman for the makers of Salk vaccine, certain scientists in America were developing a live polio remedy which was proving very effective. It could be taken by mouth, one or two doses gave 100 per cent immunity. It was cheap. It would not require the services of a doctor nor would it require a million hypodermics, nor could it be controlled by the six big drug houses, etc. On other pages you will find more about this vaccine. The question is, why was not the United States Health Department interested in this development? Why did the Department rush the Salk vaccine into use before it was ready?
Is there an unholy alliance between our United States Department of Public Health and the large drug houses? Can the public trust the Department to do that which is best for the people? It would seem the time has come for a congressional investigation of this matter. This is a very serious matter. The public is entitled to know the truth. Such an investigation can be had if the public will demand it. The pens or pencils of one million folks will accomplish it if those pens and pencils are used to write to the legislators at Washington.
THIS ONE THING WE ARE NOT CONFUSED ABOUT: "THE AMERICAN PEOPLE MUST ORGANIZE AND FIGHT FOR THEIR LIVES". The National Health Federation has been brought into being for such a purpose. Its Washington Office is on the job. For the first time in history the American people have a voice in Washington. We must support it and keep it strong. Urge your friends to join.
 
Polio 1958 and 1959 News
Increase in Paralytic Polio Cases — Public Health Service reports that from January to August, 1957, out of a total of 3,212 polio cases there were 1,055 paralytics, or 33.5 of the total.
From January 1st to August 1958 there was a total of 1,638 cases of polio, with 801 of them paralytic, or 49% of the total.
 
Polio Hits Honolulu
The following reports cover the period from August, 1958, to April, 1959. These items are taken from day-today newspaper reports. June 19, 1958—The wave of polio among military-connected families continues with the ‘report of two more cases in Tripler Army Hospital. This brings a total for this year to 21. Victims are William M. Thomas, Jr., four-year old. He had one polio shot in May and is suffering from paralysis of both legs. The other victim, Dennis W. Prescott, two-year old. He had his first Salk shot May 15th and is suffering from paralysis in both arms, left shoulder and back.
September 5, 1958—The Territory’s 56th case of polio, a one-year-old army dependent, has paralysis in both arms and legs. The infant had two Salk shots, the last one March 3rd.
Two more army dependents, one of whom had a complete series of three Salk Vaccine shots, have been hospitalized with polio. Dr. James Enright with the Territorial Board of Health said one of these had received three vaccine shots, the last one on April 16th. His case is the 8th this year in which the victim
Had all vaccine shots. The patient is suffering paralysis on the right side of his face. The second patient is suffering a paralysis of both her arms and legs. Her condition is serious. The patient had received two vaccine shots, the on March 3rd.
August 12, 1958 — The condition of Air Force Sgt. Patterson, who is suffering from Bulbar Polio, was described as "grave" this morning. The sergeant, his wife and two children, one and three years old, received their first polio shots on June 9th.
July 18, 1958 — the newest civilian case is a part Hawaiian three-year-old girl. She has paralysis of the right leg. She has had no Salk vaccine. The second case reported today is suffering from paralysis of the right shoulder. This patient had had two Salk shots, the last July 2nd.
September 13, 1958 — Five more polio cases were reported in Honolulu today. The five cases included a three-year-old girl who had received all three Salk vaccine shots. She is the 9th fully vaccinated Islander to come down with polio.
Two of the others reported today had received two shots. One is suffering with paralysis of the neck muscles and the other has paralytic symptoms in her left foot. The two other victims reported both with mild forms of paralysis had not received Salk shots.
September 18, 1958 — The Territory of Hawaii’s 62nd polio victim of this year is a two-year-old Marine dependent who had received all three Salk vaccine shots. The victim is suffering from paralysis of the left leg. The boy received his third shot two weeks ago and is the 10th Island resident inoculated with three Salk shots to come down with paralytic polio.
October 1, 1958 — Two more polio cases were reported today bringing this year’s total to 65. One victim, a twenty-year-old woman, suffering with weakness of her left leg, had received no polio shots. The other victim, a nine-months-old boy suffers from a paralysis of his left leg. The boy received two Salk vaccine shots, the last one in April.
October 16, 1958 — Hawaii’s 68th polio victim of the year was reported today. The patient has no paralysis and had had two Salk shots.
September 24, 1958 — Honolulu health officials cannot understand why their vaccination program is bogging down. They say 15% less people are getting their third shots than was the case in 1957. From the foregoing record as published in the newspaper it is not hard for a layman to understand why the public shies away from the Salk vaccine.
 
Does Salk Vaccine Protect?
The Honolulu Advertiser on July 15, 1958, carried a statement by Doctor Enright of the Territorial Department of Health as follows: "Of the 32 discovered paralytic polio cases so far this year, six had had three Salk shots; six had had two shots; four had one shot, the rest, none." This makes 16 of the 32 who had been vaccinated. Percentage-wise, it is 50%.
In an article published in the same newspaper April 22, 1959, Doctor Enright is again quoted: "Of Hawaii’s polio victims last year 16 had received three Salk shots. No one who received the recommended four shots was stricken," Doctor Enright continues. "About 60% of the Island’s population has had polio shots."
Checking the newspaper items we find that of 65 who had suffered from polio during 1958, 32 had paralytic polio for which the Salk vaccine was specifically developed to prevent. Of these cases 16 had received three, two, and one shots. This is 49 8/l0ths per cent of the total of 65 cases who suffered from paralytic polio. According to Doctor Enright’s figures, as taken from the article of April 22nd, 60% of the Island’s population has had polio shots. This means that a greater percentage of those inoculated against polio came down with the disease than those who received no inoculation. If these news reports are true, it must follow that the polio vaccination program actually increases the incidence of polio and does not protect against the paralytic type of polio.
That the Honolulu polio situation regarding paralytic cases is typical all over the nation during this same period is borne out by a press dispatch quoting the United States Public Health Service. The date of the dispatch is August 22, 1958: It says: "Out of 233 polio cases reported by the states, 114 were paralytic," or 49 9/10th per cent paralytic. The dispatch continues that during the year 1957 the figures for the comparable week were 314 cases of which 81 cases were paralytic, or 25 8/10ths per cent paralytic. We vaccinate against paralytic polio and each year the per cent of that type increases.
 
Dr. Salk Calls for Public Understanding
Dr. Jonas E. Salk, in an analysis of the preparation and administration of poliomyelitis vaccine, has described a "temporary situation that will require the exercise of judgment by practicing physicians and health officers, and understanding by the public as well."
Speaking at the Scientific Symposium on Polio Vaccine, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Dr. Salk said his study of the occurrence of paralytic polio in some people who have had three doses of vaccine leads him to suggest:
"That the use of vaccines of less than optimal potency may well be the principal reason for the occurrence of paralytic polio in persons who have had three doses of vaccine."
"That the attainment of potency levels of an order of magnitude sufficient to induce the desired effects after one or two doses in practicably feasible."
 
Who Is Right?
National Institute of Health — Trouble’s brewing between Dr. Jonas Salk and pharmaceutical houses making the polio vaccine bearing his name. Dr. Salk blames "weakness" of the manufactured product for cases of paralytic polio in persons having had the recommended three shots of vaccine. Throwing the ball right back, the pharmaceutical people say they are following Dr. Salk’s formula— in other words, if the vaccine is weak, it’s his fault, not theirs.
 
Polio Vaccine Fed to Russ
MOSCOW, June 17 — The Communist party organ Izvestia said today nearly 2 million Russian children have been given spoonful of Soviet-produced live polio vaccine and not a single case of polio developed.
The questions were deeply challenging and vitally important Is a live-virus polio vaccine safe and effective?
Should such a vaccine be used generally us place of the "killed" developed by Dr Jonas Salk?
The whole problem of poliomyelitis, and how to eliminate it once and for all, was being threshed out this week at a World Health Organization conference in Washington, D. C., where some 50 international scientists met to check results of the first experimental tests with three new live-virus serums.
All developed in this country, the three are: (1) The widely publicized vaccine of Dr. Albert Sabin of the University of Cincinnati, which has been tried out experimentally on 3.8 million Russians, 143,000 Czechoslovakians, 200,000 people in Singapore, and 2.5 million Mexicans; (2) a strain made by Dr. Hilary Koprowski of the Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, already used in a mass inoculation program of 320,000 in the Belgian Congo, with a new testing program ready to start among Polish children, and (3) the carefully screened and tested live vaccine of Dr. Herald Cox of the Lederle Laboratories, Pearl River, N. Y., with which selected groups of Minneapolis, Minn., school children have been inoculated.
 
Many Advantages?
Up to now, none of the three strains has been tried on a mass scale in the U. S. because a large percentage of the population already has been vaccinated with the Salk "killed" product. Nevertheless, Drs. Sabin, Cox, and Koprowski believe that the live polio vaccine is the final answer to polio. If successful, the advantages are many: Live vaccine costs less; it is easy to administer in syrup, spray, or pill form; it provides longer immunity; it not only protects against paralyzing polio, as the Salk shots do, but also against all polio infections.
Another appraisal of live-virus vaccine will be made on July 7 in New York when the National Foundation, which has supported Dr. Albert Sabin’s research with grants amounting to $1.5 million, will hold a conference to determine its value. The evaluation group, headed by Dr. Thomas B. Turner of Johns Hopkins University, will include the original committee that recommended the first Salk-vaccine trials. "Reports from the Sabin live-virus-vaccine trials appear encouraging," said Basil O’Connor, president of the National Foundation. "But before the new vaccine is made generally available, it must be licensed by the National Institute of Health in Washington. We cannot be sure if and when a live vaccine will be so licensed. In the meantime, there is only one sensible thing to douse the Salk killed-virus vaccine to the fullest extent." — Newsweek, June 29, 1959.
Are you confused? We are! We would like to know the truth and we feel that only an impartial congressional investigation of this entire matter can ferret out the facts.
Editor’s Note: It will be interesting to see when the U. S. Department of Public Health okays a live Polio Vaccine if at all.
1. Will they wait until the six big drug houses get rid of their immense stock of Salk.
2. Will they O.K. it at all unless the manufacture of it is in the hands of these drug companies.
3. Will they refuse to okay the others and give the go-ahead to the Doctor Cox vaccine, because it is owned by Lederle Drugs, one of the big six.

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