It was the summer of 1952 and our country was in the middle of its worst polio epidemic since 1916. Nearly 58,000 cases of polio were reported and more than 3,000 died. I was lucky.

“My favorite part was how on one of the first pages it said ‘Adults kept away from bakeries and banks. Children kept away from pools and parks’ and then later in the book it said ‘Adults headed to bakeries and banks. Children headed to pools and parks’.

I liked this part very much because it showed how Jonas Salk made sure that people could go safely to where they wanted to go, and that meant that they did not have to live in fear anymore.

By Chloe

“Turning Points in History” was the theme for the 2024 National History Day Competition. We celebrate the work of Chloe and Daniela for their successful entry. “Jonas Salk: How the Polio Vaccine Changed Public Health”

My parents decided to volunteer our entire family (themselves included), feeling strongly that it was the right thing to do.

" . . . Scientists usher in a new medical age with the monumental reports that prove the Salk vaccine against crippling polio to be a sensational success . . . "

When we saw how their documentary began, we knew these young women were focused on their message. The polio vaccine WAS, without question, a medical and personal frontier.

Major Epidemics: A C-Span Interview with Daniel J. Wilson, PhD (Video)