Mr Coronavirus,
Let me narrate a story to you. You are new in the scene today but meet Mr. Polio. Mr. Polio plagued humans for thousands of years. An Egyptian carving from around 1400 BC depicts a young man with a leg deformity caused by polio.
For a long time, it remained relatively rare and did not result in too many deaths though. It did take away Sir Walter Scott’s leg though. In your exuberant youth, you might not think of it as a great achievement though. Fair enough.
Back in the 1900s though, Polio came out of its endemic form and reached epidemic proportions. And while you seem to have a liking for the aged, Polio attacked the children more. Yes, the plot thickens
At that time, no one knew if the disease was contagious or what could be done to prevent or treat. There was an outbreak in 1916 and another reaching its peak in the 1950s. There were many similarities between you and the Polio.
Everyone panicked. World leaders like FDR were infected. Towns locked down. On one instance cats were suspected of being carriers & 72000 of them were hunted down. People died like flies. And know what, just like this time, it was initially termed a “mild outbreak” in many places
Like you see ventilators today, the life support system of those days was what was called an ‘Iron lung’. The shortage was as acute as well. In 1930s an iron lung would cost the same as a home.
Let me break some news. You may think you would defeat humans but the history of polio has a different story to tell. And it is also the story of human ingenuity, adaptability and resilience. Since 1950s, a series of experiments were undertaken until Jonas Salk had an Aha moment.
On April 26, in 1954, the Salk polio vaccine field trials, involving 1.8 million children, began at the Franklin Sherman Elementary School in McLean, Virginia. A year of extensive trials led to validation of Salk’s vaccine finally in 1955
Another gentleman Albert Sabin developed and oral vaccine and was allowed to go into Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and test 70 million children in the mid of the cold war era
Over the years, the virus has been almost eradicated in the western world and prevails only in some tropical countries now. It had its moment of glory and so will you have , Mr Corona. But there’s something more and that’s about what Dr. Salk said years later.
Years later, when Jonas Salk was asked whether he would patent his polio vaccine and make a fortune, he replied that the vaccine belonged to everyone, making the comparison, “How could you patent the sun?”
Corona, human beings will defeat you. The only malaise that can defeat them is their own greed and vice and the only vaccine they really need will be the humanity inside them. Question today is not whether a vaccine will be developed but the question is will the sun be patented?
Yours sincerely,
Zoi
Poetic Injustice 