Polio vaccines, 1960

8mm color film clip of two medical professionals administering vaccines to children at Camp Tall Trees in Meade County, Kentucky. The Jewish Community Center of Louisville hosted the 2-3 week long summer camp in Otter Creek. The children in this film are receiving what was likely the Salk polio vaccine, introduced just five years earlier in 1955. Before this point, many parents dreaded the late summer months when polio cases peaked, and swimming pools were often shut down to try to curb transmission through contaminated water. The year 1952 marked the worst outbreak of polio in the nation’s history, with nearly 58,000 reported cases of paralytic poliomyelitis. The number of cases dropped to just under 3,200 in 1960 and fell to the single digits by the 1980s.

Mss. BD J59, Item 538b, Jewish Community of Louisville records, 1896-2022, The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky

Mss. BD J59 538b vaccines