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The Polio Crusade"American Experience"
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Polio Crusade: American Experience Visit the program's official website Upcoming Broadcasts: Episode #2102H Duration: 56:46 Stereo DVS TVPG
This program chronicles the decades-long crusade to eradicate polio, one of the 20th century's most dreaded diseases. The polio epidemic terrified Americans for many years, affecting thousands of children, leaving many crippled, paralyzed or condemned to life in an iron lung. Then on April 26, 1954, hope emerged. At the Franklin Sherman Elementary School in McLean, Virginia, six-year-old Randy Kerr stood at the head of a long line of children and waited patiently while a nurse gently rolled up his sleeve, then filled a syringe with a cherry-colored liquid containing the world's first polio vaccine. Developed just a few years earlier by virologist Jonas Salk, the polio vaccine had not yet been widely tested on humans. No one was certain it was safe or whether it could provide effective protection against the disease. In the coming weeks, nearly two million school children in 44 states received the shots. The Salk vaccine trials were the dramatic culmination of years of research and a multi-million dollar investment, made up in large part by public donations. This film examines the largest public health experiment in American history and is based in part on David Oshinsky's Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Polio: An American Story.
Channels and Airdates: KQED TV9/HD Mon, Feb 2, 2009 -- 10:01 pm Tue, Feb 3, 2009 -- 4:00 am
Episode #2102 Duration: 56:46 CC Stereo DVS TVPG
This program chronicles the decades-long crusade to eradicate polio, one of the 20th century's most dreaded diseases. The polio epidemic terrified Americans for many years, affecting thousands of children, leaving many crippled, paralyzed or condemned to life in an iron lung. Then on April 26, 1954, hope emerged. At the Franklin Sherman Elementary School in McLean, Virginia, six-year-old Randy Kerr stood at the head of a long line of children and waited patiently while a nurse gently rolled up his sleeve, then filled a syringe with a cherry-colored liquid containing the world's first polio vaccine. Developed just a few years earlier by virologist Jonas Salk, the polio vaccine had not yet been widely tested on humans. No one was certain it was safe or whether it could provide effective protection against the disease. In the coming weeks, nearly two million school children in 44 states received the shots. The Salk vaccine trials were the dramatic culmination of years of research and a multi-million dollar investment, made up in large part by public donations. This film examines the largest public health experiment in American history and is based in part on David Oshinsky's Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Polio: An American Story.
http://www.kqed.org/tv/programs/index.jsp?pgmid=18040
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