HJR202 Summary

• Commemorates the 70th anniversary of the nationwide polio eradication campaign that began in 1955, marking a historic public health initiative against a disease that had paralyzed and killed thousands annually.

• Highlights the groundbreaking development of the first safe and effective polio vaccine by physicians and scientists, which offered hope to millions of families across Alabama, the United States, and the world.

• Acknowledges the significant contributions of Black doctors and researchers at the Tuskegee Infantile Paralysis Center at Tuskegee University, which served as the only treatment facility in the South for African American children with polio.

• Recognizes Dr. Ira Myers, who in 1955 became administrative officer and assistant to State Health Officer Dr. D.G. Gill and helped initiate the mass Salk Polio Vaccine Program in Alabama after serving in the federal Public Health Service.

• Salutes the scientists, physicians, public health personnel, parents, and Alabamians who collectively achieved the eradication of polio in the United States, described as one of the greatest public health triumphs of the 20th century.