(music)
Ann: This video represents
a segment of a longer lecture
discussing medical testing
on vulnerable populations.
In 1952, researcher Jonas Salk
tested his polio vaccine
on disabled
institutionalized children
who had not given their consent.
These children lived at
the Polk State School
for the Feeble-Minded
and at the D.T. Watson Home
for Crippled Children.
These tests occurred a
full two years before
the nationwide field
trials of Salk's vaccine.
Film narrator:
These are the proud hills
of the state of Virginia
in the springtime of 1956.
Springtime, beckoning to
a small boy, urging him to
wander with the wind
to the farm perhaps,
over the pasture fence
to catch a calf.
Not an easy thing
because after all,
a calf's a youngster
like himself.
Ride him? Sure!
Well, what's a day without
a little rough and tumble?
When a boy needs comfort
there's always home
and mother and father.
This is the world of
Randy Kerr of Oakton, Virginia.
Typical, except for one thing -Randy was the first child
to receive an injection
of Salk polio vaccine
in the field trials in 1954.
Much, however, had
preceded this moment
when Randy Kerr made history.
In the all-out fight
against polio led by
the National Foundation
for Infantile Paralysis
there were many years of struggle and heartbreak.
Parents lived in fear of polio's
sudden attack and
the tragic aftermath.
Ann: In 1952, Jonas Salk, has
everybody heard of Jonas Salk,
the creator of the polio vaccine
which all of you
probably never got?
'Cause you're probably, you're
probably so young and I realize
I'm dating myself but you're
probably all so darn young
that you were probably
born after
the eradication of polio
within the Western Hemisphere.
But Jonas Salk...
and this was back in 1952,
in the process of developing a
killed virus vaccine for
poliomyelitis or polio
as you might hear it
referred to.
Polio being a paralyzing disease
usually of the lower limbs,
occasionally of the upper
body and in some instances
it would also
paralyze the diaphragm
and other
muscles and nerves
that were associated
with breathing
which is why some people who got
polio were put in iron lungs
which was kind of a
1940s, 1950s attempt
to create a respirator.
But Jonas Salk who was creating
his killed virus vaccine
and keeping in mind also
that polio was one of
the biggest public health
crises at this time
and it was an absolute
terror in the U.S.
Nobody really knew
how it spread.
There was a lot of mythology,
a lot of, well,
it happens in the summer,
kids go to the swimming pool
in the summer, don't go
to the swimming pool.
sinister voice:
You've never seen me.
but I'm sure you've
seen my shadow.
I'm never invited but
I've been an invisible guest
in practically
every kind of home.
This is what I've
been looking for!
My name is virus poliomyelitis.
I cause a disease which you
call infantile paralysis.
As you probably know I'm
very fond of children,
especially little children.
I have no prejudices,
I'm quite impartial.
Ann: So there were all
sorts of regulations around
trying to keep kids healthy
particularly in the summer
when polio seemed
to be at its peak
but Salk decided
that he was going to
test his vaccine on institutionalized,
mentally and physically
disabled children.
In spring of 1953, after he had
already tested his
killed virus vaccine
on disabled children,
only then does Salk say,
well, it's probably safe
and so he went ahead and
he inoculated himself, his wife
and also his three sons.
Now on April 26, 1954 the first
Polio Pioneers line up for shots
at various schools
and community clinics
and the nationwide field trial
of Salk's vaccine begins.
And here's an image
of the Polio Pioneers.
You'll notice a
line of children.
They seem to be roughly sorted
boy, girl, boy, girl,
girl, girl, boy, girl.
But there is a line of children
and then you might notice also
this button or the re-creation
of a button that says,
Polio Pioneer 1954 and then we
have a silhouette of a scientist
hard at work over his microscope
with a beaker and some test tubes and things like that.
What is the first
thing that you notice,
for instance about this image?
Yeah.
student: They're all smiling.
Ann: Okay. They're all
smiling, right.
Although I don't think
I would be so happy
if I had just gotten a shot.
I would be like, ow!
and, you know,
why on Earth did
you do that to me?
That hurts.
Okay, so they all
seem to be smiling
and smiling and perky
little individuals.
Other things you notice? Yeah.
student: They have
their sleeves pulled up?
Ann: Okay, so they all have their sleeves pulled up and
it seems like they're uniformly
either holding their arms
or maybe pointing to
the vaccination site.
Yeah.
student: They're all wearing
like really nice clothes.
Ann: Okay, okay.
They're all wearing very, yeah,
they're all wearing
really nice clothes.
I would assume based on other
images I've seen of the 1950s,
I think we can assume
these are middle,
probably middle-class maybe upper middle-class kids.
Anything else you notice? Yeah.
student: They all seem to be
about the same age.
Ann: Okay, okay.
About the same age.
student: There doesn't seem
to be much diversity.
Ann: Okay, there's not much
diversity so it's pretty much
you get, I mean, and it's
kind of eerie that there's...
it's like the same hair style
for all of the boys and then
all of the same hair style
for all the girls
and it's mentioned
there's no diversity.
I assume you mean ethnic,
ethnic or racial diversity?
-- Uh huh.
-- Okay.
So they're all uniformly... white, yeah.
Almost pasty white.
Okay and I think that all,
certainly all those observations
I think are important
to understanding the,
say, the public image
or the public perception
that was being promulgated
about the polio vaccine
and about its importance.
Obviously there are no
kids here in wheelchairs,
no kids with
leg braces or crutches
or anything of that sort.
They're all very, very vigorous,
almost, I mean,
almost too vigorous
in some ways.
It's as if they're trying
too hard to all be smiling
and cheerful and put on
their Sunday best.
We can all be proud of the
Salk vaccine brought about by
American scientists
and American giving.
We can all share in the hope
that this victory will lead to
many more in the years ahead.
narrator: For maximum protection
from paralytic polio,
three inoculations, the second
given not less than two weeks
after the first, the third not
less than seven months later.
Your child or any member
of your family eligible for
polio vaccine in your community
should be vaccinated now.
Vaccination now will save lives
from death or
paralysis this year.
Make use of increasing
supplies of vaccine.
Help your child grow
up strong and straight,
free from crippling polio.
Youngsters like
David Eisenhower,
like Polio Pioneer Randy Kerr
are part of a bright new future.
A future which will see
the unconditional surrender
of infantile paralysis.
Ann: The public image of the
Polio Pioneers are brave,
able-bodied children
of Any Town, America
with Randy Kerr as
the poster child.
However, a different
group of children
were the first to be tested.
They were institutionalized
in state schools
for the crippled
and feeble-minded.
These children are the
unnamed and unrecognized,
true Polio Pioneers.