GREEN BAY (NBC26) — Mary Jane Herber was a young girl in Milwaukee in 1955 when the polio vaccine distribution began.
"Pools weren't open, and lots of things were going on and there were delays in school starting in the fall," Herber said. "Things were really restricted, because people were really fearful of children getting polio."
Herber, now a local history librarian at the Brown County Library, said there are many parallels from that time period to what the nation is seeing today.
A headline on the front page of a Green Bay Press-Gazette article from May 14, 1955 reads 'First polio vaccine shot set for week of May 23.'
Nine days later on May 23, another article describes how many children had been vaccinated for polio. Herber said the goal was to get all first and second grade kids in Green Bay schools vaccinated first.
According to the article, a doctor reported the health department received 75 cancellations from parents of the 2,500 city kids eligible for the vaccine.
But Herber said people in Green Bay didn't get the polio vaccine as soon as they expected.
"There were some delays. They thought they were going to get it in April and they didn't get it until May," Herber said. "They had to delay it in this area for a week, because whopping cough and a couple of other things that go together were going to be given to students in the schools for inoculations."
Like the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, the mass polio vaccine distribution came with delays, shortages and public confusion.
The virus caused widespread panic: Travel and commerce between cities was sometimes restricted; parents were afraid to let their children play outside; and public health officials imposed quarantines.
With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still in its beginning stages at this point, vaccine distribution was slow and not well planned.
In 1952 alone, the polio virus infected nearly 58,000 people and killed more than 3,000. Most of the victims were children.
No reported cases of polio have originated in the U.S. since 1979 - 24 years after the vaccine rollout began.
When comparing the COVID-19 vaccine rollout to what the country experienced in 1955 as people worked to eliminate polio, Herber said history has a tendency to repeat itself.
"It wasn't any different 65 years ago," Herber said. It takes awhile to get it so that it's going and snapping like we think it should, because there were some delays in terms of getting it in place."
