[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 49 (Tuesday, March 24, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S1784]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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SENATE RESOLUTION 108--COMMEMORATING THE DISCOVERY OF THE POLIO VACCINE 
            AND SUPPORTING EFFORTS TO ERADICATE THE DISEASE

  Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Kirk, Mr. Leahy, Mrs. Shaheen, Mrs. 
Murray, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Coons, Mr. Markey, Mr. Isakson, Ms. Ayotte, and 
Mr. Reed) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions:

                              S. Res. 108

       Whereas April 12, 2015, is the 60th anniversary of the 
     announcement of the discovery of the first safe and effective 
     polio vaccine;
       Whereas the vaccine was developed by Jonas Salk with the 
     support of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, 
     now known as the March of Dimes Foundation;
       Whereas the vaccine developed by Jonas Salk was proven safe 
     and effective in a massive nationwide field trial organized 
     by the March of Dimes Foundation, relying on the largest 
     peacetime mobilization of volunteers in the history of the 
     United States;
       Whereas polio is a crippling and potentially fatal 
     infectious disease for which there is no cure, which means 
     that vaccination is the only viable pathway for eradication 
     of the disease;
       Whereas nearly 60,000 children in the United States were 
     reported to have polio in 1952 alone, with more than 20,000 
     cases of paralysis;
       Whereas, due to vaccination, polio was eliminated from the 
     United States in 1979;
       Whereas the use of the inactivated polio vaccine developed 
     by Jonas Salk and the oral polio vaccine developed by Albert 
     Sabin has dramatically reduced the incidence of polio 
     worldwide;
       Whereas the fight against polio has been part of the 
     mission of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
     (referred to in this preamble as the ``CDC'') since the 
     1950s;
       Whereas, as part of the fight against polio, the CDC 
     established a national polio surveillance unit and worked 
     with Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin to widely distribute 
     vaccines;
       Whereas, through the Global Polio Eradication Initiative 
     (referred to in this preamble as the ``Initiative''), the 
     Federal Government, Rotary International, the World Health 
     Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund (commonly 
     known as ``UNICEF''), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 
     and the United Nations Foundation have joined together with 
     governments around the world to successfully reduce cases of 
     polio by more than 99 percent since the launch of global 
     polio eradication efforts;
       Whereas Rotary International, a global association founded 
     in Illinois, has contributed more than $1,000,000,000 alone 
     to, and volunteered countless hours in, the global fight 
     against polio;
       Whereas October 24 of each year is recognized 
     internationally as World Polio Day to commemorate the fight 
     against the disease;
       Whereas, according to the CDC, polio vaccination has 
     prevented over 13,000,000 paralytic polio cases and 650,000 
     deaths since 1988;
       Whereas only 3 countries (Afghanistan, Nigeria and 
     Pakistan) remained polio-endemic in 2014, which is a decrease 
     from more than 125 countries in 1988;
       Whereas there is a global push to eradicate polio by 2018;
       Whereas investments in polio eradication are helping 
     improve routine immunization systems and creating lasting 
     infrastructure to support other health priorities;
       Whereas the Initiative is finding and reaching the most 
     vulnerable children in the world with the polio vaccine and 
     combining those efforts with other health care resources;
       Whereas, in December 2011, the CDC activated Emergency 
     Operations Center of the CDC to ``support the final push for 
     polio eradication'';
       Whereas the eradication of polio would be the only time in 
     history aside from the eradication of smallpox that a disease 
     affecting humans has been eradicated, and the eradication of 
     polio would be a ``once-in-a-generation opportunity for 
     global public health''; and
       Whereas the success of the polio vaccine has shown the 
     public what sustained medical research can accomplish and 
     should encourage support for future Federal funding for 
     biomedical research and public health prevention and control: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) commends the work of Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin in 
     developing effective, safe vaccines for polio;
       (2) supports the goals and ideals of the Global Polio 
     Eradication Initiative;
       (3) encourages and supports the international community of 
     governments and nongovernmental organizations in remaining 
     committed to the eradication of polio; and
       (4) encourages the Federal Government to continue 
     committing funding to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative 
     and for biomedical and basic scientific research so that more 
     life-saving discoveries can be made.

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