This is the story of two heroes. The first hero is actually a heroine. Her name is Shoshana Bernstein. When the news of new polio emerged this summer, the CDC turned to her. There was a need to increase polio vaccination rates in New York and in particular, Rockland County.
Bernstein is a frum vaccine educator and a selfless, remarkable individual. She has educated tens of thousands of people and has even made a video to combat the anti-vax misinformation that has somehow entered into the Jewish community.
And now, the second hero, lehavdil bein chaim l’chaim.
Next week is yahrtzeit of Rabbi Aharon Kotler, zt”l. Those who grew up in the 1950s remember it well. The fear throughout the country was palpable. True, polio epidemics had been in the United States since 1894, but the epidemic was never so virulent. In 1952, there were 57,879 cases of polio. In that year, there were also 3,145 deaths from that disease, rachmana l’tzlan.
Then on March 22, 1953, at 10:45 p.m., Dr. Jonas Salk, a Jewish researcher from Brooklyn, announced on a CBS radio program that tremendous progress was being made. He said that clinical trials were optimistic, but that there was still no vaccine available. Finally, on April 12, 1955, Salk announced that a safe and effective vaccine was available. The entire country let out a collective sigh of relief and Dr. Salk became a national hero.
Soon, the U.S. government sprung into action in regard to the Salk vaccine. On August 12, The Poliomyelitis Vaccination Assistance Act of 1955 was passed. This established a temporary federal aid program that would help each state carry out mass inoculations with the Salk vaccine. On February 15, 1956, more funding was made available and the free vaccines were made available to more people.
New Jersey’s then governor, the Honorable Robert Mayner, took New Jersey’s allocation and distributed the vaccine at no charge to as many New Jersey residents as he could.
One institution that received the vaccines was Beth Midrash Gavoha of Lakewood (BMG), then located at 617 7th Street at the corner of Forest Avenue. There were about 80 bochurim in the yeshiva and a fledgling kollel that numbered about one dozen.
A nurse was dispatched to the yeshiva to administer the vaccines, paid for by the state of New Jersey. At the time, there were both questions and dissent. “Is it safe?” “Should we take this injection?” There were a number of people who were not supportive of the vaccine. But soon enough, the dissent was rapidly dispelled.
One of the very first people to get the vaccine was none other than BMG’s own Rosh Yeshiva Rav Aharon Kotler, zt”l, himself.
“I remember being right outside his office at the time,” recalled Rav Yaakov Schnaidman, the current rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Beis Moshe in Scranton, Pennsylvania. “There were a few other bochurim there. Rav Aharon rolled up his sleeve and received the injection. After that, there was just no more dissent.”
Rav Aharon’s office was a covered outside porch with glass panes surrounding, so everyone could see inside. His office door was always open.
Rav Yechiel Perr, Shlita, added, “Rav Aharon, zt”l, was very meticulous in listening to doctors. If a doctor instructed him to take his medication every four hours—he would look at his watch and take it every four hours—on the dot.”
In the 1950s, there were approximately 12,000 deaths from polio and almost a quarter million polio cases. Taking into account the population of the United States at the time this meant that about one in 600 people were stricken by it. Thanks to the polio vaccines, those numbers fell each subsequent decade. In the 1960s, there were fewer than 2500 cases; In the 1970s, there were only 171 total cases; In the 1980s, only 100 cases; In the 1990s, just 59 cases and in the 2000s, there were only two cases.
“The polio vaccines were essential in virtually eliminating this disease from the country,” remarked Breindy Koschitzki, a nurse practitioner who specializes in Internal Medicine. “Nowadays, his vaccine is the only one in use in this country.” Rav Aharon Kotler’s, zt”l initiative had, Boruch Hashem, set the tone that was necessary to ensure compliance with the vaccination program that saved so many lives.
By Rabbi Yair Hoffman
The author can be reached at [email protected].
