Dr. Peter Salk, son of the late Dr. Jonas Salk

Ursinus talk reveals what influenced Dr. Salk, credited with eradicating polio

By Dan Clark
Journal Register News Service

Audience members watch a movie with Dr. Jonas Salk, who asks the rhetorical question of whether we will be good ancestors. Photo by Phil Heil

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Ursinus College’s Center for Science and the Common Good hosted the son of the man who discovered the vaccine for polio during an event Jan. 16.

Dr. Peter Salk, son of the late Dr. Jonas Salk, came to Ursinus to discuss his father’s work in the polio vaccine and his interest in humanity and how people came together to help each other when polio was killing thousands of people in the early 20th century.

The lecture began with Salk speaking about his father’s view on life and how when his father was a boy, he did not want to go into science.

“He wanted to find a way to help people,” Dr. Salk explained to the audience in the Kaleidoscope Building. According to Salk, science was the furthest thing from his father’s mind growing up. However, like most people, he decided to go where the money was, and thanks to the March of Dimes, the money for polio research was at an all-time high.

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The HinduUK citizens Dr. John and Chris Philip volunteering for National Polio

The HinduUK citizens Dr. John and Chris Philip volunteering for National Polio Immunisation Day in Government Women and Children Hospital in Mattancherry in the city on Sunday. Photo:Special Arrangement

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Chris and John Philip are from England and they are leading a team of 34 members who are volunteering for the pulse polio immunisation programme, an initiative of Rotary Club

Chris Philip and John Philip are one among the large number of foreign couples touring Fort Kochi. But on Sunday, they gave the sunup charm of the beach a miss as they were volunteering at the pulse polio immunisation programme held at Government Women and Children Hospital in Mattancherry.

Chris and John Philip are from England and they are leading a team of 34 members who are volunteering for the pulse polio immunisation programme, an initiative of Rotary Club. Thirty-two British and two Swedish nationals volunteered at various pulse polio booths throughout Ernakulum district. Rotary club has been active in the pulse polio campaign in India for years. All the volunteers flew down at their own expenses.

“The U.K. has contributed as much as 1.2 billion dollars in the past years of the polio immunisation programme in India. We are really happy to see the outcome. Within two years India will be totally polio-free,” said Chris Philip. This is her sixth trip to India and the first to Kerala as part of the Rotary projects.

Dr. John Philip is a retired breast cancer specialist.

Pulse polio immunisation booths were arranged in various spots throughout Fort Kochi and Mattanchery. Booths were set up in Boat Jetty and bus stands to ensure better participation from  travellers.

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Over 97 p.c. children covered in polio campaign

The HinduA child being administered polio drops as part of the Pulse Polio Immunisation drive at Coimbatore Junction on Sunday. Photo S.Siva Saravanan

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Coimbatore Corporation records 102 per cent

The district administration has managed to administer oral polio vaccine to 97.5 per cent of the 3.18 lakh children on Sunday, the day the 17 nationwide pulse polio campaign was held.

A release from the district administration said that it had established 1,564 camps to administer the polio drops to children below five years, deploying 6,274 workers for the purpose.

It had also established 23 camps at railway station and bus stands in the city to target children among the floating population.

The Coimbatore Corporation, which had established 196 camps within the city to administer the drops to 1.10 lakh children managed to reach 1.12 lakh children, recording 102 per cent.

District Collector M. Karunagaran, Mayor S.M. Velusamy, Corporation Commissioner T.K. Ponnusamy and other officials inaugurated the campaign at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital and at the Corporation's dispensary on Krishnasamy Road (Brooke Bond Road).

Mr. Ponnusamy said that on Monday the civic body's health staff would conduct door-to-door campaign to administer the oral vaccine to those children who may have been left out.

In Tirupur, the second phase of the Pulse Polio Immunisation Programme-2012 to administer oral anti-polio vaccine to 2,23,563 children aged up to five years in the district, concluded on Sunday evening.

Of the children identified, a total of 1,56,130 were residing in rural localities, 66,633 in urban areas, 779 in temporary shelters and 21 in various Sri Lankan refugee camps functioning in the district.

Official sources told reporters that 1,083 booths (967 in rural areas and 116 in urban areas) were set up to administer the vaccine.

The health officials would be carrying out a door-to-door campaign in the coming days this week to administer the anti-polio drops to the children left out in the immunization drive conducted on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment M.S.M. Anandan inaugurated the campaign at a function held on District Headquarters Hospital premises in the presence of District Collector M. Mathivanan and Deputy Mayor S. Gunasekaran.

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