On this day in 1954, the first mass vaccination of children began...

[XemaSab]

In the mid-twentieth century, the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (the predecessor to today’s March of Dimes) pioneered a new approach to philanthropy, raising money a dime at a time from millions of small donors. The nonprofit enlisted poster children, celebrities, presidents, and other partners in their high-profile campaigns.

By 1954, the National Foundation was the nation’s leading health charity, capturing nearly half of all charitable donations to those causes. However, with 100,000 cases per year, polio was a smaller public health threat than tuberculosis, heart disease, cancer, cerebal palsy, or muscular dystrophy.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/photo-gallery/polio/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=fanpage&utm_campaign=ThisDayHistory

[marybourg]

1. We stood in a very long line at the

Board of Health in the upper Bronx to get our shots the first day they were available. I can still remember the crowds.

[MannyGoldstein]

3. It must have been a relief to have them available!

Riverdale?

[marybourg]

9. Not as upper as that.

[roguevalley]

14. My mom cried. He was a god to the world then. I remember taking it on a sugar cube. Among the oldest

memories of those days I can recall.

[shanti]

16. yup the sugar cube

i took it around 1962. mom was a school nurse and helped administer them.

[MannyGoldstein]

2. And do you know who founded the NFIP/March of Dimes?

Hint: he was an FDR Democrat.

[Snake Alchemist]

4. The birth of autism.

[Kellerfeller]

29. Dang

I hate it when I have a witty response only to find out someone has already posted it!

[BlueToTheBone]

5. I remember that. We waited to get

that shot. It saved lots of kids from a terrible disease.

[oldhippydude]

6. i remember

we got a little badge that said " i am a polio pioneer"

[BlueToTheBone]

22. Lucky You!

We just got the shot.

[ZombieHorde]

7. Vaccines are one of my favorite inventions.

Toilet paper and the internet are pretty cool too.

[TheWraith]

18. Vaccines are, according to study, one of the biggest drivers of increased lifespan.

More so even than antibiotics.

[pokerfan]

20. Penn & Teller on vaccinations

[Jack Sprat]

8. I remember it well and am so thankful.

I actually recall polio victims from childhood and recently (some 6 years ago) met a gentleman of my agegroup who was still paralyzed from the disease. They still exist in smaller numbers thankfully due to the Salk vaccine and school immunizations.

[murielm99]

13. I remember it, too.

I remember getting the vaccine. I remember the many polio victims, too. Polio victims were more common than children of divorce back then.

[Blue_In_AK]

10. I got the polio vaccine early, when it was still in the experimental stage,

in the winter of 1952, I believe, because I was exposed to my aunt at the onset of her bout with polio from which she almost died. I can remember my parents taking me and my brothers to the doctor in the middle of the night for our shots when we learned that she was ill. Luckily she made what was called at the time a "miraculous" recovery, and none of us got sick.

Polio was a terrible scourge, and I had friends who were paralyzed from it. This vaccine was a Godsend.

[Jack Sprat]

15. I was thinking we took sugar cubes

for the vaccination. Maybe that was the boosters. It's been a long time.

[Blue_In_AK]

17. Sugar cubes came later.

[Stinky The Clown]

11. I recall those dime donation cards we got at school to fill up and return

Like this one:

[Suich]

12. Wow! I remember those!

I'd forgotten all about them!

[Lugnut]

19. That's a blast from the past!

I remember those very well.

A grade school classmate of mine contracted polio when she was a toddler. She wore a leg brace all through grade school. It was a very personal thing to get those cards filled for my classmate.

[BlueToTheBone]

23. Now that's a blast from the past!

The beginning of the march of dimes...started out great.

[hedgehog]

21. My mother used to tell of working as a nurse c. 1962 -

going down into the basement one night for something and seeing all the iron lungs lined up in storage - no longer needed.

[scheming daemons]

24. Vaccination.... proof of evolution

...

[xchrom]

25. ...

[smokey nj]

26. "Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?"

This was Jonas Salk's reply to Edward R. Murrow when asked who owned the patent on the polio vaccine.

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/85433

[Arkansas Granny]

27. I remember that. I lived in a rural area which still had several small, often 1 room, schools.

The county health officials set up at the larger schools and kids from miles around were brought in for immunizations. We had very long lines because everyone wanted to be innoculated for polio. Each summer there were several kids who got sick and weren't able to come back to school. Summertime used to be a scary time of year, especially for parents.

[rug]

28. I was 3. My mother had poli as an adult.