Jonas Salk

I was shocked and saddened to read an article in Kompas of June 26, that Prof. Jonas Salk, discoverer of the polio vaccine, died of heart trouble at the age of 80, in Green Hospital, La Jolla, San Diego, U.S. on June 23, 1995.

His image, a simple, friendly and fatherly figure, is still fresh in my mind. His smile and his sharp look reflected his sincerity.

During my informal discussion with him, I briefed him about the polio immunization drive in Indonesia. He praised the serious effort made by the Indonesian government in making the World Without Polio towards the year 2000 campaign a success.

He wished to visit Indonesia to see with his own eyes how we conducted the National Immunization Week in the effort to eradicate polio. But his death prevented him from realizing this dream.

He still looked strong and healthy when he received an award from Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima, WHO director general, on the occasion of the World Children Health Congress 2000, in Vancouver, Canada, three weeks before he died.

Dr. Salk's concerns and sincere work reminded us of the conditions during the first few years of the 20th century, when polio cases caused death or lameness mostly to children. The outbreaks were sporadic and hard to predict. Nearly 100,000 children in Canada and the U.S. were infected by polio in 1952, laming some but claiming the lives of most patients.

In 1953 Dr. Salk announced the discovery of a vaccine developed from dead polio viruses. The vaccine was used to develop immunity in children. Convinced of the efficacy of the vaccine, he injected his wife, their three children and himself with the vaccine. He also tested the vaccine on 1.8 million school children in 1954.

Not until April 12, 1955, did Dr. Salk announce to the world that his vaccine was safe and effective. Afterwards, medical people throughout the world vaccinated millions of people. People became confident of the success of the vaccine and their feelings of terror were considerably lessened.

Forty years after Dr. Salk's discovery of the polio vaccine, on April 7, 1995, the World Health Day launched a program called World Without Polio towards the year 2000.

We have every reason to honor Dr. Salk who once said: "Children are the seedlings of the generations to come."

DR. SUTJAHYO SUHERMAN

Tangerang, West Java