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Iconic University of Michigan Building Hosts World Polio Day Event

University of Michigan

The Rotary Club of Ann Arbor, along with the University of Michigan's School of Public Health, will host an event this evening to help mark World Polio Day

 

The Rackham graduate school building will be lit with two logos from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.  The first one will read "Rotary End Polio Now," and the second will be the school's logo.  

Rosemarie Rowney, with the rotary club, is helping organize the event.  She says those who don't get immunized or don't allow their children to do so are not helping eradicate polio.

"It puts their children at risk, it puts other adults at risk, other children at risk, people who are immunocompromised who may be on chemotherapy or something like that. And it can come back until we have totally eradicated from the globe."

There are no current cases of polio in the United States.  Less than 100 cases have been reported in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria.

The Rackham graduate building was chosen for tonight's event, because it was there, in 1955, that it was announced that the Salk vaccine for polio was potent and safe to use.  The event starts at 6:45 p.m. with speakers from the rotary club and the university.  The public is encouraged to attend.   

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— Jorge Avellan is the Ann Arbor beat reporter and anchor for 89.1 WEMU News.  Contact him at 734.487.3363 or email him javellan@emich.edu

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