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Public service announcement for polio vaccination
Polio quietly preyed on thousands of young Canadians. The disease caused paralysis, deformed limbs and in the most severe cases, death by asphyxiation. In Canada, polio was so feared that as recently as the 1950s, it closed schools, emptied streets and banned children under 16 from entering churches and theatres. In 1955 it looked as though a miraculous polio vaccine signalled an end to new cases of the crippling disease. But a recent medical condition known as post-polio syndrome has survivors reliving the sequel to this once-forgotten nightmare.
Broadcast Date: Feb. 25, 1959
Announcer: Allan McFee
Duration: 1:00
Photo Credit: Canadian Nurses Association/Library and Archives Canada / e002504596
Last updated: March 7, 2013
Page consulted on March 20, 2013
All Clips from this Topic
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Looking back on the day Jonas Salk announced a vaccination for polio.
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A 1959 public announcement urging people to get the polio vaccination.
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Polio victims relive their nightmare as old symptoms return.
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A look back at the year 1953 when polio last stalked Canada.
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