Statement by the President on Releasing Report on the Salk Poliomyelitis Vaccine.
SECRETARY FOLSOM'S REPORT on the Salk Poliomyelitis vaccine deserves the attention of every young adult--of every parent--in America.
The supply of vaccine is now plentiful.
I join with Secretary Folsom, the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service, and the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis in urging that the vaccine be used promptly--be. fore the next poliomyelitis season arrives.
Note: Secretary Folsom's report points out that "because of public apathy, vaccine which would prevent paralysis or even death--next year--may lie unused." He urges that all children and young adults be vaccinated prior to "next summer's peak of polio incidence."
Mr. Folsom adds that since the vaccine was approved for public use, 18 months before, about 115 million doses had been released by the Public Health Service. "Surveys show that among children vaccinated with only one or two doses, the incidence of paralytic poliomyelitis has been reduced about 75 percent. We can expect an even greater reduction as more and more persons receive three injections."
The President's statement and Secretary Folsom's report were released at Augusta, Ca.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Statement by the President on Releasing Report on the Salk Poliomyelitis Vaccine. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/233922