I just finished watching The Polio Crusade on PBS’ American Experience. It’s an incredible documentary, and so relevant to today’s science. I’ve posted in the past about the lengthy clinical trial process a drug must go through before it hits the market. At the Alzheimer’s Association we’re working on a marketing plan to encourage people with Alzheimer’s to participate in trials. These are people who’ve already been diagnosed with the disease, a disease which currently has no cure.
What’s staggering about The Polio Crusade is that two million children participated in the vaccine trial. Two million children! Parents lined their healthy children up to try an untested vaccine. It’s nearly impossible to wrap my head around how that could happen. Not to mention the fact that they had to wait a year to know if the results would be a success. I think of Luke and there’s a big part of me that can’t imagine trucking him down to school for a shot. I think of my friends, many of whom lamented over whether to vaccinate their children for Measles, Mumps, and Rubella because of all the media attention on the connection with autism. But, then I think of the fact that Polio has been eradicated from this country.
Now let me be clear, the documentary doesn’t gloss over the fact that a drug trial on that scale came with risk. Calculated risk? Sure. But, risk nonetheless. The question is, is it a risk worth taking today? For me, I think it may be. I think we focus too much on the wrong risks like litigation and bottom lines. Here’s an homage to those children and families who rolled up their sleeves and took a shot in the arm. Thanks to those original risk takers. May we remember and learn from your experience.
This entry was posted on Monday, February 2nd, 2009 at 10:47 pm and is filed under Alzheimer's Info, Research. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
