Walter Dowdle, a key figure in public health, passed away at his home in Hahira, Georgia, on November 17, 2023. He was 94 years old. The cause of death was soft tissue sarcoma, a rare cancer he was diagnosed with just six weeks before his passing. Dowdle spent 34 years at the Centers for Disease Co
Polio eradication has been a long, winding road. Back in 1988, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) set an ambitious goal. By 2000, they aimed to wipe out polio. They didn't quite make it, but progress was still impressive. By 2014, only three countries—Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan—w
The world is still aiming to get rid of polio, even though there's less money to do it. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has seen a big cut in funding. In 2026, their budget will be 30% smaller, and they're missing $1. 7 billion until 2029. This is mostly because some big donors, like
Vaccines come from different places and times, even if not made in the USA. In the 1980s someone was brewing up a new vaccine in China. A vaccine to fight polio. It was called the Sabin strains-derived inactivated polio vaccine (sIPV). This vaccine is part of the polio research legacy, so it is
