Anyone watching the story of the Polio vaccine BBC 4 right now?

[Ubik1]

How far we have come

My dad had a close friend with polio, who was in an iron lung. He died in his teens. This was in the 1930s.

We have indeed come a long way, thank God.

They had footage of tiny tots crying in iron lungs.

Truly awful.

My mother remembers never being allowed in public swimming pools due to fear of polio.

I have a relative with it. Her family were told she wouldn't live past her teens. She is 60+ now and doing well.

It's actually quite emotional, the bravery of the doctors. They immunised each other and their own children before they took the vaccine to the world.

I know everyone's watching The Voice bit if you have catchup or iplayer then thus is worth watching in a spare moment.

"Vaccines are always a matter of risk vs reward and nothing is perfect"

I have known two people, both men, who had polio as children in England. I should think it would have been in the 1960's. Both have limps, and, although married, never had children.

Risk and reward my asre.

I didn't see it, but my Dad caught polio in the epidemic, when he was a very young child. The vaccine was available when he caught it, but my Nan didn't get him vaccinated as she was worried whether the vaccine would be safe. Obviously he did survive, but he walks with a limp, one of his legs is shorter and smaller than the other - it looks kind of withered. I will try to find the program on iplayer.

I think the risk/rew

Oops
I think the risk/reward quote was from a dr - the first development of the vaccine actually gave some children polio and killed some. So the later vaccines were a huge risk - but they were spurred on by the dreadful experiences of the children who has polio.

Has it been on before? Was it about the race between the two doctors who developed different types of vaccine. Think I saw it a while ago and it was excellent.