On this episode of Nuts World, I thought given everything that's happening with COVID-19

and all the concerns about vaccines, it would really be fascinating to look at the time

when there was an enormous breakthrough.

One of the greatest breakthroughs in public health in the 20th century involved polio.

Polio was a paralyzing disease, most of the affected children.

In some ways, COVID-19 and polio presents similar challenges.

Like polio, COVID-19 is a highly contagious virus that can be deadly.

But while COVID-19 enters the lungs through airborne particles, polio enters the body

through the gastrointestinal tract often through contaminated water.

In 1921, the most famous polio victim, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, contracted polio.

By the 1950s, polio had become one of the most serious communicable diseases among children

in the United States.

In 1946, President Harry Truman, who had served with President Roosevelt, declared polio

with 39 states and called on Americans to do everything possible to combat it.

Now listen to President Truman's comments.

The fighting against infantile paralysis cannot be a local war.

It must be nationwide.

It must be total for every city, town, and village throughout the land.

For only with a united front, can we ever hope to win any war?

Now despite Truman's appeal, when 1952, nearly 60,000 people were infected with the virus.

In 1952, over 3,000 children died.

Hospital set up special units with our long machines to keep polio victims alive.

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