Jonas Salk, an American-born Jewish scientist, is credited for developing a vaccine against the dreaded disease of polio.
His work, along with the pioneering research of others, significantly reduced polio cases, though polio hasn’t been fully eradicated yet.
When the vaccine was licensed in 1955, annual cases of polio dropped dramatically, from about 58 000 in 1956 to 5 600 by 1957, and then to just 161 cases by 1961.
Salk was committed to making the vaccine widely available and did not patent it, believing that it belongs to society, rather than to himself. He made the comment, “Our greatest responsibility is to be good ancestors. If we want to be good ancestors, we should show future generations how we coped with an age of great change and great crises.”
Friday, 24 October 2025, is World Polio Day. In a time when vaccine scepticism is on the rise, it is perhaps particularly significant that we focus on Salk’s achievements, and take note of his wise words.
A children’s book about Jonas Salk, The Polio Pioneer: Dr. Jonas Salk and the Polio Vaccine, is available for borrowing from the Jacob Gitlin Library. ●
To help communicate the importance of the polio vaccine, we’re giving away a children’s book on the topic, The Polio Pioneer: Dr. Jonas Salk and the Polio Vaccine. Kindly sponsored by the PJ Library, the book is suitable for readers aged four and older. If you’d like to stand a chance of winning the book, scroll down to the bottom of the page where you can Leave a Reply, and type in your contact details. Alternatively, send us an email to let us know you’d like to be considered to receive the book – send your email to editor@ctjc.co.za.
And you can subscribe to the PJ Library and receive wonderful books on Jewish themes – use this link to register: https://pjlibrary.org.za/enrol.
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