318 



some child can't get this vaccine because they haven't got the money with which 

 to pay for the inoculation he will make people listen." The time for this Con- 

 gress ito make people listen is in advance of that. Mrs. Hobby, I charge, was 

 derelict in her duty in one of two respects : Either she has the power under the 

 law to act, in which event she was derelict in not acting, or she doesn't have 

 the power under the law to act, in which event she was derelict in her duty in 

 not coming before the Congress and saying "Members of the Congress, we need a 

 law so that we can regulate this thing." ^ 



The bulk of the June Senate hearings was devoted to the testimony 

 of witnesses favoring the administration proposal of a voluntary pro- 

 gram of distribution with minimal Federal controls. Drs. Julian 

 Price and Walter B. Martin, representing the American Medical 

 Association, inserted part of a resolution adopted by the AJVIA House 

 of Delegates : 



* * * disapproving the purchase and distribution of the Salk polio vaccine by 

 any agency of the Federal Government except for those unable to procure it for 

 themselves and that such necessary Federal funds therefore be allocated to the 

 various proper State agencies for .such purposes; and be it further Resolved, 

 that the American Medical Association urge the Congress of the United States 

 to ailow the Salk polio vaccine to be produced, distributed, and administered in 

 accordance with procedures on any new drug or vaccine."'' 



Dr. Price added that the AMA had requested its members to admin- 

 ister vaccine only to those groups for whom priorities had been fixed by 

 the DHEW advisory committee, and that ''In accordance with the 

 great traditions of medicine no child will be denied a vaccination 

 because of inability to pay a physician's fee." -^ Dr. Martin inserted a 

 favorable report on the status of State poliomyelitis vaccine programs 

 compiled by the Chief, Bureau of State Service, PHS. It stated that 

 most States and State legislatures were providing for vaccination of 

 children who could not afford to pay. It commended the excellent 

 cooperation achieved by medical societies, pharmaceutical associations 

 and public health officials in developing broad programs. The only 

 unresolved problem "* * * was equitable geographic distribution 

 within the State." ~' 



Dr. E. H. Hutcheson, chairman of Committee on Federal Relations 

 of the Association of State & Territorial Health Officers, said his 

 organization favored : 



* * * A voluntary system of Federal distribution of poliomyelitis vaccine 

 among the several States to go into effect as soon as the National Foundation for 

 Infantile Paralysis orders have been filled ; that the system of distribution of 

 poliomyelitis vaccine within the individual States be left to each State to decide 

 whether the State system is voluntary or mandatory, this system to be determined 

 by each State agency in charge of the distribution program after consideration of 

 the needs, resources, and attitudes of the people in that State.^ 



In justification he added : 



I can't see that administrative justification for making a special program out 

 of something that has nothing special about it except that it has attracted the 

 attention nationwide, emotional attention, if you will, of the peoples of this coun- 

 try, and they are clamoring for something to be done immediately.-"" 



Mr. Basil O'Connor, president of the national foundation, reviewed 

 the role of the NFIP in development and field testing of the vaccine. 



^*Ibid., p. 64. 



2s Senate. Committee on Labor and Public Welfare. Poliomyelitis vaccine hearings. 

 Pt. 2, op. cit.. pp. 82-3. 

 23 Ibid., p. 8.'{. 

 ^ Ibid., pp. 90-93. 

 2'* Ibid., p. 51. 

 -" Ibid., p. 56. 



