Dr. Julius Youngner, right, with Dr. Jonas Salk
New York Times: Dr. Julius Youngner, Polio Vaccine Pioneer, Dies at 96
By SAM ROBERTS
REBUTTAL BY
DISCLAIMER
We are indeed aware of the counter-claim that the hazards of the polio vaccine outweigh the benefits. It is a debate that we are not well-versed in and therefore will not take a definitive position on, either way. But whether the polio vaccine is a blessing for mankind or not is not at all relevant to the hidden history revealed in this article.
Dr. Julius Youngner, a virologist and a key member of the team that developed the Salk polio vaccine in 1955 has died at his home in Pittsburgh at the age of 96. His death is a good occasion to expose Dr. Jonas Salk (cough cough) for the selfish and over-rated, self-aggrandizing jerk that he really was.
Dr. Youngner was the last surviving member of a predominately Jewish-dominated research team (Salk, Youngner, Lewis & Friedman) assembled by Salk at the University of Pittsburgh to develop a vaccine to fight polio, which had peaked in the United States in the early 1950s. Salk was actually in a race to develop the vaccine -- against another glory-seeking Jewish scientist named Albert Sabin, from Chicago. Salk's team got there first, but when Salk announced the development of the polio vaccine on April 12, 1955, he soaked up all of the press hype for himself while barely mentioning the critical contributions of the other team members.
"Me! Me! Me!"
After rushing his vaccine and announcing it to Judea's Piranha Press, media-hound Salk was all about Salk. Just weeks after the vaccine had been declared safe, more than 200 polio cases were traced to lots contaminated with virulent live polio strains. Almost all of those stricken became paralyzed and eleven died. The haste (both of Salk and the Federal government under Eisenhower) to rush the vaccine to the public was responsible for this tragedy.
Though this Slimes article about Youngner downplays and rationalizes St. Salk's selfish snubbing of