October 24 is internationally recognized each year as ‘World Polio Day’.

Polio was once one of the most dreaded diseases in the United States, killing thousands of people annually. At the peak of the polio epidemic in the United States schools, churches, and swimming pools were closed to help prevent transmission.

In 1952 Jonas Salk created a safe and effective polio vaccine that made polio preventable. Widespread access to the vaccine led to the rapid decline of polio in our country.

Polio was eradicated in the United States in 1979 but the disease continues to paralyze children in a few parts of Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Countries around the world are placing an unprecedented emphasis on polio eradication, including by implementing Emergency Action Plans to boost vaccination coverage in affected areas.

The eradication of polio is imminently achievable. Polio cases have been reduced by 99.9% since 1988. There were only 223 polio cases diagnosed in 2012! 

We can be the generation to end polio forever.