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Show Polio Is a BIGGER Job Now On Jan. 3, the annual March of Dimes will start its drive for polio-fighting funds. While the year just ending has witnessed giant strides against this crippling disease, victory is not yet won. The trial vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas E. Salk was given last spring to 410,(XX) children. Now an evaluation of its effectiveness in preventing polio paralysis is being made at the University of Michigan. Health records of 1,830,000 children in the first three grades of 14,000 schools in the 217 trial areas are being studied. But up to now we cannot know whether the vaccine protected against paralytic polio, and we will not know until spring. Meanwhile, the fight must go steadily on. Even if the vaccine is effective, polio still will strike in the years just ahead. It takes time for a preventative to become widely used. We must expect tens of thousands of men, women and children to be stricken and to need March of Dimes aid. That help must be available to them. The fight against polio is being carried out on four fronts polio prevention, patient aid, scientific research and professional education. This makes it a much bigger job now. Great advances have been made in the past few years but the four-front attack must continue till final victory. The March of Dimes needs our whole-hearted support right now to do a bigger job for all of us. Dig deep during this January drive. It's YOUR fight. |