I was more than a little dismayed to read recently that the polio virus, which had been practically eradicated in the United States, has been detected in wastewater in the New York City area since May.
Before the coronavirus, hereâs how Tampa Bay fought polio with vaccines
Thousands of children received polio vaccines in schools, while one Florida man was arrested for spreading anti-science propaganda.
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Dixie Lee Heckel, then 3, receives her polio shot at the Leon County Health Unit in Tallahassee, Florida, on June 23, 1957. [ State Library and Archives of Florida ]
Updated Dec. 16, 2020
As we wait we can learn from Tampa Bayâs vaccine past, starting with the polio vaccine. These lifesaving vaccinations emerged in the 1950s as researchers crusaded to stop a virus that attacked the nervous system.
While the populations most vulnerable to the coronavirus skew older, poliomyelitis was largely identified as a childrenâs disease, said Naomi Rogers, a professor of the history of medicine at Yale University. Younger children were most likely to experience paralysis and other severe symptoms later.
By GABRIELLE CALISE | Tampa Bay Times | Published: December 16, 2020
Stars and Stripes is making stories on the coronavirus pandemic available free of charge. See other free reports here. Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter here. Please support our journalism with a subscription. TAMPA, Fla. (Tribune News Service) History was made in Tampa Bay Monday as the first dose of coronavirus vaccine was given locally to a nurse at Tampa General Hospital. It was a long-awaited moment of hope for many, even those whose shots are months away. As we wait we can learn from Tampa Bay’s vaccine past, starting with the polio vaccine. These lifesaving vaccinations emerged in the 1950s as researchers crusaded to stop a virus that attacked the nervous system.