THE THOMAS FRANCIS, JR. MEDAL IN GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH

Congressman John D. Dingell
Serving Michigan’s 15th Congressional District

NEWS RELEASE Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Contact: Adam Benson / Michael Robbins (202) 225-4071 / (202) 271-8587 www.house.gov/dingell

House Passes Resolution Honoring 50th Anniversary of the Successful Salk Polio Vaccine Trials

Dingell Amendment Recognizes the University of Michigan in Resolution

Washington, DC—Today the US House of Representatives passed House Resolution 208, co-sponsored by Representative John D. Dingell (MI–15), by a vote of 422–0, recognizing the University of Michigan, the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Jonas Salk, and Dr. Thomas Francis, Jr. on the fiftieth anniversary of the discovery and the declaration that the Salk polio vaccine was potent, virtually eliminating the disease and its harmful effects. At Congressman Dingell’s insistence, the legislation was passed with a bipartisan amendment he co-authored with bill co-sponsors Reps. Tim Murphy (R–PA) and Mike Doyle (D–PA), which expanded the original bill’s language to ensure that the University of Michigan’s vital role was fully and properly recognized in the resolution.

On April 12, 2005, the day of the 50th Anniversary, Representative Dingell made the following statement:

Mr. Speaker, I rise to mark a historic day in the history of public health. Fifty years ago today, Dr. Thomas Francis, Jr. announced from the University of Michigan’s Rackham Auditorium words that people around the globe were waiting to hear: the Salk polio vaccine works. With those simple words, eradication efforts began in earnest to rid the world of this terrible disease.

For generations in the United States, the polio disease struck fear in the hearts of millions of American parents and children. Late every summer, hot weather brought with it a rash of new cases of paralytic polio. No one knew how to prevent polio, nor was there a cure. Epidemics of polio could devastate whole communities. For example, an epidemic struck the state of New York in 1916—killing 9,000 people and leaving 27,000 disabled. In the 1940s and 50s, the number of cases reported in the United States ranged from 40,000 to 60,000 each year. This was the state of our nation affected by polio pre-1955.

Mr. Speaker, all that began to change in the early 1950s. At that time, Dr. Jonas Salk, a postdoctoral student of Dr. Francis’ at the University of Michigan, developed a promising vaccine against poliomyelitis in his laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh. In what has been called the largest cooperative effort undertaken in peacetime, the Salk vaccine was tested in the most comprehensive field trials ever conducted. Overseeing those trials was Dr. Francis, Director of the Poliomyelitis Vaccine Evaluation Center and founding chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

Mr. Speaker, the polio field trials were unprecedented in scope and magnitude. Dr. Francis and his team of more than 100 statisticians and epidemiologists tabulated data received from hundreds of public health officials and doctors who participated in the study. The trials involved 1,830,000 children in 217 areas of the United States, Canada and Finland. No field trial of this scale has been conducted since.

This historic event is a source of pride for the University of Michigan and the state of Michigan as a whole. Since that day fifty years ago, polio has been nearly eradicated. In August 2002, there were no confirmed cases reported in the United States, and only 483 confirmed cases of acute poliomyelitis reported to authorities worldwide. These successes all began with the announcement from Rackham Auditorium fifty years ago today.