LIVE POLIO IRUS VACCINES

Appendix
The following letter was read at the closing session of the Conference:
Dr. Abraham Horwitz, Director
Pan American Sanitary Bureau
Regional Office of the World Health Organization
1501 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W.
Washington 6, D. C.
Dear Dr. Horwitz:
It was, of course, a keen personal disappointment that I was unable to attend the Second
International Conference on Live Poliovirus Vaccines. You may be sure, however, that I have
followed the proceedings with intense interest. As the Conference draws to a close, I wish to
express the profound pride and satisfaction it affords the Sister Elizabeth Kenny Foundation to have
shared with your organization the honor of sponsoring this significant event.
Even to one observing from a distance, it has been clearly apparent that the true spirit of scientific
investigation has prevailed throughout the Conference. Perhaps the most striking indication of this
has been the uncompromising willingness to present findings fully and frankly, regardless of where
they lead.
It seems to me that both conferences have made a major contribution to science, wholly apart
from their significance to medicine and public health. Never before to my knowledge has a vaccine
been subjected to such searching, rigorous, thorough, and widespread investigation.
The magnitude
of the data produced and the scrupulous care with which they have been examined seem to me to
be unprecedented. It may well be that the entire experience will establish a new standard for the
testing and proving of a concept in preventive medicine. The credit for all this is due, of course,
to you, your colleagues in the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization
and the distinguished delegates to the conferences.
I hope you will convey my most cordial and sincere respects to all the participants. I feel confident
that the work surveyed at the Conference will ultimately lead to the final goal-eradication of
poliomyelitis.
Sincerely,
(Signed) E. J. HUENEKENS, M.D.
Medical Director
Sister Eizabeth Kenny Foundation
Minneapolis, Minnesota
605