The
article in the prestigious JAMA (the Journal
of American Medical Association) begins as, “…As World Polio Day is
remembered on October 24…” [1]. The official site of World Health Organization’s
Western Pacific region also mentions [2]:
“World Polio Day originally brought people together to
remember the birth of a man who led the first team to develop a vaccine against
polio, Dr. Jonas Salk. It was the development of this vaccine, and its
successor oral polio vaccine, that enabled the world to embark on an ambitious
journey – the eradication of polio. Every year on 24 October, people around the
world shine a spotlight on the importance of global eradication.”
My
own interview (I am a polio survivor) was published as World Polio Day special
on Times Internet Limited's venture on 24 Oct
2011[3]. So far so good.
Let’s move on to the title of an article published in the
journal ‘Vaccine’ [4]. It states- Salk. Born 28 October 1914, New
York, NY; died 23 June 1995, La Jolla, CA. Yes, it’s the complete title and a Google
search will tell you that Salk was indeed born on 28th October. The
Wikipedia page on Jonas Salk also mentions the same date. In fact, Jonas
Salk's eldest son, Peter mentions some factual errors in the ‘talk page’ of this
wiki page but he did not contradict the birth date so I assume it’s correct [5].
World
Polio Day is not mentioned in the list of United Nation’s Observances [6].
However there is a complete website on this day http://www.worldpolioday.com/. On contacting
the site, I got immediate response which reads:
"Dear Dr. Singh,You are so right. 24th of October has been
chosen by a.o. the Rotary Foundation to commemorate the month in which Jonas
Salk was born. We will correct this immediately."
The closest balancing act in this
mess is done by an Australian agency which carefully states, “…Wear Orange for World Polio Day each year which falls on
or near the birthdate of Jonas Salk (28 October)”[7]. This is the closest
accurate version which I could find on literature. For years, Rotary
International and Gates foundation are celebrating this day on 24th.
The honest error may be giving out wrong impression but nobody could ever
forget Salk’s response when he was asked who holds the patent of this vaccine.
He famously said- “Nobody. Could you patent the Sun?”
The
Enablist’s view: We have two excellent vaccines, IPV and OPV, but the unsavoury
arguments about their merits and defects had led to delays in controlling the
disease in endemic countries and in its ultimate eradication. Whether 24th
or 28th, I feel neither Dr Salk’s family nor anybody else would mind
if we achieve the broader goal of Polio eradication. Let’s hope people of Afghanistan,
Nigeria, and Pakistan join the global community in fight against eradication.
References:
1.
Mitka
M. Polio eradication goal still elusive. JAMA.
2004 Oct 20;292(15):1805-6.
2.
http://www.wpro.who.int/immunization/news/world_polio_day_oct2011/en/index.html.
Retrieved
22 October 2012.
3.
Survivor’s
story: Dr Satendra Singh’s journey [World Polio Day Special"]. Health
Me Up [Times Internet Limited]. http://healthmeup.com/news-healthy-living/survivors-story-dr-satendra-singhs-journey-world-polio-day-special/8631.
Retrieved 22 October 2012.
4.
Spier RE. Jonas
Salk. Born 28 October 1914, New York, NY; died 23 June 1995, La Jolla,
CA. Vaccine. 1995 Nov;13(16):1487.
6. http://www.un.org/en/events/observances/days.shtml.
Retrieved 22 October 2012.
Great Satendra, you did it again! Thank you so much for this.
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure :)
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