Fresno ‘champion’ for polio vaccine wary of Trump’s choice for health secretary | Opinion
If Janice Noga ever wondered why she worked so tirelessly raising money to help eradicate polio, they disappeared in the blink of an eyedropper.
An eyedropper containing liquid doses of the oral polio vaccine, administered by Noga to 20 infants during her 2024 visit to India. The locally renowned singer and performer was one of five Americans invited to make the trip as representatives of Rotary International.
“Holding these babies in your arms, administering the vaccine and knowing these children will never have polio, in my mind and my heart it felt like I might be a tiny part of saving this child’s life,” Noga said from across a booth at Irene’s Cafe in Fresno’s Tower District.
“The entire experience was extraordinary. All five of us … we could hardly talk afterward. It was an honor, and it was a privilege.”
Rotary International has long acted as one of the leading stalwarts in the effort to eliminate polio across the globe. Members have contributed billions of dollars and countless volunteer hours to help protect nearly 3 billion children across 122 countries from this highly infectious and paralyzing disease.
For the last three years Noga has spearheaded fundraising efforts for the Cultural Arts Rotary Club, whose focus is broadening and deepening youth arts programs throughout Fresno County.
Noga has been very successful raising money for polio (“I’m the biggest beggar anywhere,” she laughs) but wanted to see where it was going. That curiosity led her to be among the small traveling party of Americans that joined the chief doctor of India’s only polio clinic on the outskirts of New Delhi.
“It was a very poor area. It was dirty. The children were dirty. But for me, they were beautiful,” Noga said. “The mothers would put on their nicest saris to bring their child, and they were so happy. The mothers had huge smiles on their faces knowing their child would be safe from polio.”
Concerns under Trump, Kennedy
That feeling has been a given in the U.S. for decades thanks to the polio vaccine. (With one exception, in 2022, of a 20-year-old unvaccinated New York man who was diagnosed with a vaccine-derived form of the disease.) But as Donald Trump re-takes the Oval Office accompanied by a Secretary of Health nominee who’s a vaccine skeptic, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., there are legitimate concerns we might backslide.
Trump, in his typical brusque manner, declared himself “a big believer” in the polio vaccine after previously having called it “the greatest thing.”
But in his next breath, the president-elect said he isn’t a “big fan” of mandates. The sort of statement that might gain him fans in certain dark corners of the Internet but doesn’t show much working knowledge of infectious diseases.
“If a child comes to school who isn’t vaccinated, that child could spread the disease,” Noga said. “That puts other children in danger and it puts teachers in danger. Teachers would quit, and parents would pull their kids from school.”
As he seeks Senate confirmation, Kennedy insists he’s “all for the polio vaccine.” Which directly contradicts several previous comments, during interviews and podcasts, during which he called the vaccine’s effectiveness “a myth” and claimed early versions of the vaccine contained a cancer-causing soft tissue virus “that killed many, many, many, many, many more people than polio ever did.”
Both statements run contrary to the overwhelming medical consensus.
Then there’s this: Aaron Siri, Kennedy’s lawyer and the person helping him pick top federal health officials, according to The New York Times, has petitioned the US Food and Drug Administration to revoke approval of the polio vaccine used in this country as well as those for 13 other infectious diseases.
“I love Aaron Siri,” Kennedy said on a recent podcast. “There’s nobody who’s been a greater asset to the medical freedom movement than him.”
Right to spread infectious disease?
The right to spread paralyzing and deadly viruses? Hmm. I don’t see that anywhere in the Constitution.
“My feeling is (Kennedy) is not suited for anything to do with health and especially polio,” Noga said. “He doesn’t realize that the children that are being born need to be vaccinated or else the disease will come back to this country.”
Noga’s fundraising efforts helped the Cultural Arts Rotary Club punch far above its weight class in the Pennies for Polio competition compared to larger, wealthier chapters. Last year members raised $17,700 (an amount that gets double-matched by the Bill Gates Foundation) to top the Fresno area.
“Janice is a champion,” said Jackie Ryle, a past club president and retired Fresno city clerk. “Wherever she goes she raises money.”
Noga raises money in ways both large (soliciting contributions and donating ticket proceeds from her Rogue Festival shows) and small (the polio “tip” jar at Irene’s). While those funds are used to tramp out polio in foreign countries, the biggest threat in 2025 might be at home.
Sad as that is to contemplate.
“If (Kennedy) ever says we don’t need to do polio vaccinations anymore, we will fight against it and so will the World Health Organization, UNICEF and a lot of powerful people,” Noga said. “We are not going to allow him to let polio back into our country, or any other country. We are determined.”
This story was originally published January 17, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
