Dr. Richard Mulvaney of Mclean, Va., injects the brand new polio vaccine into the arm of 6-year-old Randall Kerr, the primary of some 100 youngsters to be inoculated on April 26, 1954.
Harvey Georges/AP
conceal caption
toggle caption
Harvey Georges/AP
Dr. Richard Mulvaney of Mclean, Va., injects the brand new polio vaccine into the arm of 6-year-old Randall Kerr, the primary of some 100 youngsters to be inoculated on April 26, 1954.
Harvey Georges/AP
Franklin Sherman Elementary made historical past as the primary school to manage the polio vaccine to its college students in 1954 — a truth that First Girl Jill Biden embraced on Monday as she visited the school’s COVID-19 vaccination clinic to encourage pediatric vaccinations for kids ages 5-11 years outdated.
Biden joined U.S. Surgeon Basic Dr. Vivek Murthy in a go to to the McLean, Va., studying heart. Their look adopted the advice from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention final week that younger youngsters get a low dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
Biden, herself an educator, attended the occasion as a part of a nationwide effort to get the nation’s eligible youngsters vaccinated in opposition to the coronavirus.
Kids are much less prone to severe an infection from the virus — which is accountable already for the deaths of greater than 750,000 Individuals — however nonetheless stand the chance of hospitalization and even demise from the illness. Kids can even contract the virus and cross it alongside to extra weak populations.
Biden was launched by a sixth-grader at the school named Everett, who espoused the significance of vaccines in addition to vaccine incentives, which he mentioned ought to embrace ice cream for everybody who will get the jab.
In her remarks, Biden famous the various steps that dad and mom take each day to maintain their youngsters protected, like chopping grapes in half to attenuate choking hazards.
“Dad and mom, we do all the pieces we will to guard our children,” she mentioned.
“The president and I understand how troublesome this pandemic has been on your youngsters and your households. And I am right here right this moment as a result of we care about you and your lovely youngsters,” she mentioned, encouraging dad and mom to vaccinate their youngsters ages 5 and older.
First woman Jill Biden delivers remarks with youngsters who had been simply vaccinated at the Franklin Sherman Elementary School on Monday in McLean, Va.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Photos
conceal caption
toggle caption
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Photos
First woman Jill Biden delivers remarks with youngsters who had been simply vaccinated at the Franklin Sherman Elementary School on Monday in McLean, Va.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Photos
In a press launch saying the primary woman’s go to, Fairfax County Public School hailed the school’s historical past and the “Polio Pioneers” who broke floor as the primary wholesome youngsters within the nation to get the polio vaccine.
“Now, 67 years later, First Girl Jill Biden is scheduled to go to Franklin Sherman ES on Monday, Nov. eight in a nod to historical past as a part of a nationwide effort to encourage pediatric COVID-19 vaccination. Biden’s go to follows the deaths of greater than 5 million folks all over the world from the virus, together with greater than 750,000 Individuals and greater than 1,200 Fairfax County residents,” the county mentioned.
The assertion mentioned that the school’s sixth-graders had been studying concerning the function their elementary school had performed in polio’s eradication.
“We learn articles concerning the polio vaccine, the historical past of Franklin Sherman Elementary, they usually had been tasked with creating public service posters to encourage wholesome actions through the pandemic,” the assertion quoted Romona Wright, a sixth-grade trainer at Franklin Sherman. “A few college students have mentioned this is rather like polio, the pandemic we’re going by means of now.”