Something for Americans to be Proud of

[Stavros]

Last week the WHO annunced the eradication of Wild Polio from Africa. There hasn't been a case now for three years. It doesn't mean Polio has been eradicated world-wide, but it is a huge step forward in the campaigns against disease and for public health, with Afghanistan and Pakistan now the most threatened countries in the world.

At a time when two glorified rent collectors in Washington DC are having such a baleful influence on policy making, with particular regard to Covid 19, now may be the moment to reflect on the pivotal role the US played in defeating Polio, not least because it had such a devastating impact on the US in the 20th century.

The links below will inform you of the history, and the people, not just Jonas Salk and Alfred Sabin, but the remarkable, Polish-born, Philadelphia-based Hilary Koprowski. Dare one also mention the role played by the WHO, and the Americans who worked in the field inoculating children against Polio, training locals, and proving that when it co-operates with others -and when others co-operate with the USA- a grim, life-and-body twisting disease can be beaten with an effective vaccine.

I don't expect the 45th President of the USA to herald this achevement, and even less to praise the Americans involved, so busy is he vexing about ratings on TV. As for the WHO, if asked he might just refer, as he did the other day, to 'your ass', and then his own. Go figure.

At such a moment for praise, he has nothing to say, so let others like me - I have worked with or known at least two people whose lives were blighted by Polio, both brave and enduring souls- say Thank You to all those brilliant Americans who worked for hours in laboratories, or waded across rivers in remote parts of Africa to bring hope to the smallest, poorest vilage, so that children may walk free from Polio and indeed, walk at all.

(Note: the Vox article refers to a fake vaccination programme in Pakistan undertaken to find bin Laden, but the vaccines against Hepatitis were not fake)

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/8/26/21402549/wild-polio-eradicated-africa-who

https://www.devex.com/news/how-the-eradication-of-wild-poliovirus-from-africa-can-guide-the-covid-19-response-97989

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/us/hilary-koprowski-developed-live-virus-polio-vaccine-dies-at-96.html?src=recg

[broncofan]

I doubt he knows about the work of Sabin, Salk, or Koprowski or could even provide a general working definition of what a vaccine is. It is not just that he has worked to destroy international cooperation in science, he has also worked very hard to undermine the independence of American scientists. Epidemiologists from Columbia University who criticized his Covid response were dismissed as "Trump haters" as were scientists who conducted randomized controlled trials on hydroxychloroquine and did not get the result he wanted. Dr. Fauci, who spent years working with people who had been infected with HIV and has provided advice to both Republicans and Democrats of multiple administrations has been vilified by his team for saying things that were true but politically threatening.

The response to Covid could have brought the American scientific community together, with some help from policy-makers. Instead scientists are isolated and marginalized and promising areas of research are left in the hands of private pharmaceutical companies that have plenty of money, but operate mostly on profit incentive.

As for helping to eradicate infectious diseases in countries that don't have a developed healthcare infrastructure, it's been taken off of the agenda. Through the narrowest form of selfishness that cannot even be defined as nationalism he has made it harder for Americans to help other Americans let alone citizens of the world.

[MrFanti]

There's a lot to be proud of if one also focuses on the positives instead of being gridlocked to the negatives....

[Stavros]

There's a lot to be proud of if one also focuses on the positives instead of being gridlocked to the negatives....


Indeed, Mr Fanti. Tell me something, or a few things that make you proud to be an American.

[sukumvit boy]

Indeed, Mr Fanti. Tell me something, or a few things that make you proud to be an American.
Agree in principal MrFanti. However, me and other members of the boards seen to be having a difficult time listing them here. LOL
I tried with my "The Silver Lining of Covid-19 " thread and got few takers .
Perhaps people would rather grype about the negatives in a forum like this? Also ,we take so much great stuff for granted here.

[sukumvit boy]

One need only pick up a copy of Malcolm Gladwell's,"The Better Angels of Our Nature " or Hans Robling's ,"Factfulness" to find long lists of wonderful improvements in the human condition.

[filghy2]

Don't you mean Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels of Our Nature "?

[sukumvit boy]

Oh yes ,that's correct , Sorry and thank you.
Also both books point out that many studies have found that people Do focus on the negatives.