Polio

Overview

Although new horrors like AIDS have emerged, other diseases, such as polio, have all but disappeared. Advertising helped make this possible. Initially, the country responded very slowly to the new vaccine for paralytic polio. Three sets of shots were required at first, and it took an extended and repetitive advertising effort to get 80% of the at-risk populace fully immunized. Through April of 1960, inoculations had increased to 91.1 million, from 79 million the previous year.