Events
50th
Anniversary
of the First Polio
Vaccine
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At
a glance:
April 12, 2005, marks the 50th anniversary
of the first polio vaccine. Polio
was eliminated in the U.S. because
protecting the public's health was
perceived as a simple necessity,
and every effort was made to see
that the vaccine would be freely
distributed and polio would be eradicated.
Since this effort 50 years ago, we
can now protect children from more
than 12 vaccine preventable diseases
and disease rates have been reduced
by 99% in the U.S. Yet, without diligent
efforts to maintain immunization
programs here and strengthen them
worldwide, the diseases seen 50 years
ago remain a threat to our children.
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Contents of this page: |
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Related
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Background
on polio vaccine |
April
12, 1955, was a unique moment in our
contemporary culture. That date culminated
more than 17 years of research that led
to the licensure of the first poliovirus
vaccine. The vaccine breakthrough was
driven by Jonas Salk and his team of
scientists at the University of Pittsburgh
and the pioneering field trials led by
Thomas Francis Jr. at the University
of Michigan. The research was funded
by the National Foundation for Infantile
Paralysis, today known as the March of
Dimes.
The
fight against polio brought together
communities in a national collaboration
that at that time was the largest human
cooperative effort in history. In the
days leading up to the vaccine’s
approval, children in communities across
the United States participated in the
field trials as America’s “Polio
Pioneers.” The University of Michigan
analyzed the results of the field trials
to help ascertain the safety, effectiveness,
and potency of the vaccine. Thousands
of health-care workers and lay people
volunteered their time to assist with
the vaccine field trials, the largest
ever in United States history. Millions
of Americans participated by raising
funds in their communities to support
the larger research effort and a single
goal: victory over polio.
Although
polio was eliminated from the Americas
in 1994, the disease still circulates
in Asia and Africa, paralyzing the world’s
most vulnerable children. In a continually
shrinking world, polio and other vaccine-preventable
diseases remain only a plane ride away.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative,
spearheaded by the World Health Organization,
Rotary International, the CDC and UNICEF,
was begun in 1988. That year, an estimated
350,000 children were paralyzed with
polio worldwide; in 2004, polio cases
had fallen to just over 1,200 cases globally.
The Initiative’s success will be
a triumph of international co-operation,
attesting to our ability to unite across
borders and differences to conquer global
afflictions.
April
12, 2005, marks the 50th anniversary
of the first polio vaccine. Since the
introduction of the vaccine, great strides
have been made in significantly reducing
the health impact of vaccine-preventable
diseases on children and adults worldwide.
Polio was eliminated in the U.S. because
protecting the public's health was perceived
as a simple necessity, and every effort
was made to see that the vaccine would
be freely distributed and polio would
be eradicated. Since this effort 50 years
ago, we can now protect children from
more than 12 vaccine preventable diseases
and disease rates have been reduced by
99% in the U.S. Yet, without diligent
efforts to maintain immunization programs
here and strengthen them worldwide, the
diseases seen 50 years ago remain a threat
to our children.
Top
Jonas
Salk, M.D.
October 28, 1914 - June 23, 1995
The 1955 announcement by Jonas Salk that
the polio vaccine was safe revolutionized
the approach to public health and ended
the tremendous fear and anxiety that
gripped parents each summer as children
by the thousands became infected with
polio.
Salk’s discovery further opened
the eyes of the world to the power of
scientific research. Both in the United
States and around the world it showed
how scientific solutions developed in
basic research laboratories could lead
to practical applications for complex
problems at the core of human health.
Salk’s internationalist vision
led to a worldwide health initiative
by the United Nations.
Jonas
Salk dedicated his life to helping
humankind. It was out of that dedication
that he created the Salk Institute for
Biological Studies in 1965. The Salk
Institute is an independent nonprofit
organization dedicated to fundamental
discoveries in the life sciences, the
improvement of human health and conditions,
and the training of future generations
of researchers. When Jonas Salk founded
the Institute with a gift of land from
the City of San Diego and the financial
support of the March of Dimes Foundation,
it was with the idea of creating a vibrant,
intellectual research community that
would attract the greatest minds, dedicated
to pursuing the kinds of scientific achievements
that had made him an international figure
only five years before.
Born
in New York City, October 28, 1914, Salk
obtained his M.D. degree from New York
University and was a staff physician
at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital.
He then joined his mentor, Dr. Thomas
Francis, as a research fellow at the
University of Michigan. There, he worked
to develop an influenza vaccine with
the U.S. Army. In 1947 he was appointed
director of the Virus Research Laboratory
at the University of Pittsburgh School
of Medicine. It was there that Salk developed
the techniques that would lead to his
polio vaccine.
Salk
died at age 80 on June 23, 1995. At the
time of his death he was deeply involved
in a search for a solution to the AIDS
virus, and just three hours before his
death he was working on a paper explaining
new work in the field of neurology. A
memorial at the Salk Institute with a
statement from Salk captures his vision:
"Hope lies in dreams, in imagination
and in the courage of those who dare
to make dreams into reality."
Albert
B. Sabin, M.D.
Few in the history of science and medicine
have contributed as much to the well
being of the world as Albert Sabin. Recognized
everywhere as the developer of the oral
polio vaccine, Dr. Sabin spent his entire
life at the leading edge of man’s
evolving quest for scientific and medical
knowledge.
Dr.
Sabin was born in Bialysock, Poland.
His family settled in the United States
in 1921. He graduated from New York University
College of Medicine in 1931. He began
his career at Rockefeller Institute for
Medical Research; then he served at the
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
and the Children’s Hospital Research
Foundation. During Dr. Sabin’s
30 years in Cincinnati, he developed
the live, attenuated polio vaccine—the
first vaccine ever that could be administered
orally instead of by injection.
Physicians
in the U.S. began to use Dr. Sabin’s
vaccine in 1961. It quickly became the
dominant polio vaccine owing to its easy,
oral administration and its greater strength
compared to the earlier, injected vaccine.
Soon, the Sabin vaccine became the vaccine
of choice throughout the world. It has
been at the center of the global polio
eradication effort that has had major
success around the world and is now taking
aim with vaccination of the six countries
where polio remains endemic.
At
the time of his death in March 1993,
Dr. Sabin was actively engaged in research
on a new type of measles vaccine that
could be administered without injection.
Dr.
Sabin passionately believed that scientists
must not only achieve in the laboratory,
they must strive to translate their discoveries
into practical use. “A scientist
who is also a human being cannot rest
while knowledge which might reduce suffering
rests on the shelf,” he said.
In
recognition of his contributions to humankind,
Dr. Sabin received more than 30 honorary
degrees from universities throughout
the world. He received numerous additional
awards including the U.S. Medal of Science.
Thomas
Francis Jr., M.D.
July 15, 1900 – October 1, 1969
A
physician, virologist, and epidemiologist,
Thomas Francis Jr.—T.F. or Tommy
to his friends—was born in Gas
City, Indiana. The son of a steelworker
and part-time minister, Francis grew
up in western Pennsylvania, graduated
from Allegheny College on scholarship
in 1921, and received his medical degree
from Yale in 1925. From there he went
to the Rockefeller Institute, where he
joined an elite research team then preparing
vaccines against bacterial pneumonia.
Francis soon switched diseases, however,
and took up influenza research. He became
the first American to isolate human flu
virus.
In
1933, Francis married Dorothy Packard
Otton, and they had two children. By
1938, he had become a professor of bacteriology
and chair of the department of the New
York University College of Medicine,
where he remained until 1941.
That
year, Francis received an invitation
from Henry F. Vaughan to join the newly
established School of Public Health at
the University of Michigan. Earlier in
the year, he had also been appointed
director of the Commission on Influenza
of the United States Army Epidemiological
Board. Under the auspices of the commission,
Francis took part in the successful development,
field trial, and evaluation of protective
influenza vaccines.
At
Michigan, Francis built a virus laboratory
and a Department of Epidemiology that
quickly focused on a broad range of infectious
diseases. When Jonas Salk came to the
University of Michigan in 1941 to pursue
postgraduate work in virology, it was
Francis who taught him the methodology
of vaccine development. Salk’s
work at Michigan ultimately led to his
polio vaccine.
From
his Ann Arbor base, Francis gained national
and international renown. In 1947, the
Regents of the university awarded him
one of the first Michigan distinguished
professorships, naming him the Henry
Sewall University Professor of Epidemiology.
In addition to his work at the School
of Public Health, Francis joined the
pediatrics faculty at the university’s
Medical School.
By
the late 1940s, Francis had extended
his studies of viral disease to include
studies of enteric viruses, particularly
the polio virus. In 1953, he was asked
to design, supervise, and evaluate the
field trials of the polio vaccine developed
by his former protegé, Jonas Salk.
A man of exacting standards, Francis
insisted on a double-blind means of statistical
analysis, so that neither patients nor
administering physicians knew whether
an inoculation was a vaccine or a placebo.
He also demanded a controlled observation
trial. Approximately 1.8 million children
from 217 areas of the United States,
Canada, and Finland took part in the
trial. In scope and magnitude, it was
unprecedented. On April 12, 1955, Francis
announced to an expectant world that
the Salk vaccine was “safe, effective,
and potent.”
Six
months later, Francis visited Japan at
the behest of the U.S. government’s
Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission. Charged
with determining new objectives and a
new strategy for the commission, Francis
authored the “Unified Study Program,”
which contained plans to investigate
the natural history of a population over
its lifespan.
Francis
subsequently turned to the study of the
epidemiology of chronic disease, and
he created the Tecumseh Study. His aim
was to build a community laboratory in
the town of Tecumseh, Michigan, which
could take advantage of geography, history,
and local culture to lay the groundwork
for accumulated data from which it would
be possible over a period of years to
draw secure inferences on disease precursors.
Through the Tecumseh Study, Francis contributed
profoundly to scientists’ understanding
of the epidemiology of chronic disease,
and furthered his renown as a scientist,
investigator, and innovator.
Throughout
these years, Francis taught and served
as an exemplary administrator at the
University of Michigan. He received many
honors and awards during his career,
notably the Medal of Freedom from the
U.S. Army in 1946. About his profession,
Francis remarked, “Epidemiology
must constantly seek imaginative and
ingenious teachers and scholars to create
a new genre of medical ecologists who,
with both the fine sensitivity of the
scientific artist, and the broad perception
of the community sculptor, can interpret
the interplay of forces which result
in disease.” Thomas Francis Jr.
died in 1969.
Top
12
ideas for promoting this anniversary |
-
Send an op-ed article to your local
paper talking about the historical
significance of the polio vaccine and
the need for today’s children
to be fully immunized.
- Conduct
a local press conference and feature
individuals who were a)
children during the 1950s and remember
polio scares,
b)
health care staff who treated polio
cases or participated in the first
immunization efforts, and c)
polio survivors.
- Issue
a press release for local media.
- The
announcement of a polio vaccine 50
years ago caused bells to ring in churches
throughout the country. Work with local
churches in your community to ring
the bells once again at 10:20 a.m.
(EST), the actual time of the announcement.
- Contact
your local Rotary and offer to speak
about polio and the importance of immunizations
at a local Rotary meeting. Rotary International
has been a driving force in polio eradication
efforts worldwide.
- Provide
information to local schools about
the polio anniversary, including information
about the year-long Smithsonian Institute
National Museum of American History’s
exhibit “Whatever Happened to
Polio” which can be accessed
from the Smithsonian website at http://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/exhibition.cfm?key=38&exkey=352
- Celebrate
National
Infant Immunization Week (April
24 -30) and tie the polio vaccine anniversary
into NIIW messages.
- Post
information about polio and the
polio vaccine anniversary on your
website. Information and polio links
can be found on this page www.cdc.gov/nip/events/polio-vacc-50th/default.htm
- Develop
a public service announcement for the
month of April tying the polio vaccine
anniversary into the need for children
today to be fully immunized.
- Have
state and local political leaders issue
a proclamation recognizing the importance
of the polio vaccine.
- Download
and reproduce the
polio timeline/poster at www.cdc.gov/nip/events/polio-vacc-50th/timeline.htm
and distribute it to local health care
providers to post in their offices.
- Work
with local businesses and schools to
conduct essay contests on what the
polio vaccine has meant to the health
of children worldwide.
Top
Quotes
from Organizations |
Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention
National Immunization Program
We
have made great progress in a very short
time. We now have the means to protect
our nation’s children against terrible
diseases, such as polio, that in the
past caused great suffering, disability,
and premature death in the U.S. Today,
polio has been removed from our national
consciousness and parents in the United
States rarely give a though to a disease
that was once an obsession. However,
we must remember that there was a time
not many years ago when thousands of
children died and suffered from diseases
that today are easily preventable with
vaccines. We must not forget that before
the vaccine became available, we used
to have, on average, more than 16,000
cases of paralytic polio each year in
the United States. The CDC is committed
to strengthening immunization programs
for all vaccine-preventable diseases
and remains committed to making polio
eradication a reality.
Steve
Cochi, MD., M.P.H.
Acting Director, National Immunization
Program.
March
of Dimes
Whatever
happened to polio? It was defeated by
millions of ordinary Americans who gave
their dimes and dollars so that the March
of Dimes could fund the development of
the Salk vaccine. It was vanquished by
volunteers who organized the largest
field trial in medical history to prove
that the new treatment was safe and effective.
Today, polio is part of history, but
volunteers remain committed to the March
of Dimes and its continuing fight to
improve the health of our nation's children.
Jennifer
L. Howse, Ph.D.
President, March of Dimes
Rotary
International
"Fifty
years ago, American children participated
in a vast voluntary effort to stop a
childhood epidemic. These volunteers,
dubbed "Polio Pioneers," proved
that a vaccine could prevent the paralyzing
disease. Yet just as important, they
also showed the world the importance
of volunteerism. Today, volunteers still
largely drive the fight against polio.
Members of Rotary, a humanitarian service
organization that has made eradicating
polio its main philanthropic goal since
1985, have helped immunize over 2 billion
children in 122 countries, and have contributed
more than $500 million for the cause.
Never before have individual volunteers
and the influence of the private sector
played such a core role in a global public
health effort. Today, Rotary members
are just as committed, and will not stop
until every child is safe from the threat
and devastating consequences of polio."
Glenn
E. Estess, Sr.
2004-05 Rotary International President
Salk
Institute for Biological Studies
With
his solution to polio and his vision
for vaccinating every single person in
each corner of the world, Jonas Salk
changed for all time the way we look
at both public health and the value of
fundamental scientific research.
Salk
did not profit personally from the Salk
polio vaccine. But the vaccine provided
Salk with the clout to pursue his vision
of using basic biomedical research to
help humanity. That is why 2005 is a
dual anniversary for Salk: the 50th anniversary
of the discovery of the polio vaccine
and the 40th anniversary of the Salk
Institute for Biological Studies.
Today
the Salk Institute is at the forefront
of biological research. Home to 11 Nobel
Laureates since its founding, the Salk
Institute provides an environment for
great minds to make the great discoveries
that have led to entirely new directions
and fields in biological and medical
research. Salk Institute science is truly
“where cures begin.”
From
mapping the human brain to searching
for solutions to AIDS, cancer, Alzheimer’s
and world hunger, the Salk Institute
is the ongoing embodiment of Jonas’
vision for a better world. The celebration
of Jonas Salk’s contributions does
not end with the vaccine, but continues
on with the wondrous work at the Institute
he founded.
Dr.
Richard Murphy
President and CEO of the Salk Institute
for Biological Studies
University
of Pittsburgh
The
development of the first safe, effective
vaccine against poliomyelitis by Dr.
Jonas Salk and his colleagues at the
University of Pittsburgh was an accomplishment
that ended an era of global fear of a
dread contagious disease and, in the
process, reshaped the conduct of science,
the funding of science, and the public’s
role in support of science. But many
vaccine preventable diseases remain very
much with us in the 21st century, affecting
millions across the world. Today, the
University of Pittsburgh has identified
as one of its highest institutional priorities
research aimed at the development of
vaccines for viruses and other infectious
agents that not only occur naturally
and can pose great health risks, particularly
in developing countries, but also can
be used as agents of bioterrorism.
Arthur
S. Levine, M.D.
Senior Vice Chancellor for the Health
Sciences and Dean
School of Medicine University of Pittsburgh
Top
Sample opinion editorial
piece on polio and vaccines |
Whatever
happened to polio? Today, 50 years after the introduction
of the first polio vaccine, polio has been removed from our
national consciousness and parents in the United States rarely
give a thought to a disease that was once an obsession. However,
we must not forget that before the vaccine became available,
we used to have, on average, more that 16,000 cases of paralytic
polio each year in the U.S.
“Safe,
effective, and potent”—these words, on April 12,
1955, announced to the world that the Salk polio vaccine was
up to 90% effective in preventing polio. The development of
the vaccine by Dr. Jonas Salk and his colleagues was an accomplishment
that ended an era of global fear of a dreaded contagious disease
and, in the process, reshaped the conduct of science, the
funding of science, and the public’s role in the support
of science. These efforts forever changed the way that public
health was administered, and advanced the general understanding
of ways basic scientific research benefited humanity through
collaboration between academic, philanthropic, and government
institutions.
The fight
against polio brought together communities in a national collaboration
that at that time was the largest human cooperative effort
in history. In the days leading up to the vaccine’s
approval, children in communities across the United States
participated in the field trials as America’s “Polio
Pioneers.” These “Pioneers” proved that
a vaccine could prevent the paralyzing disease. Thousands
of healthcare workers and lay people volunteered their time
to assist with the vaccine field trials. Millions of Americans
participated by raising funds in their communities to support
the larger research effort and a single goal: victory over
polio.
Polio
was eliminated in the United States because protecting the
public’s health was perceived as a simple necessity,
and every effort was made to see that the vaccine would be
freely distributed and polio would be eradicated. We have
made great progress in a very short time. We now have the
means to protect our nation’s children against terrible
diseases, such as polio, that in the past caused great suffering,
disability, and premature death in the U.S; yet polio still
exists in Asia and Africa. In a continually shrinking world,
polio and other vaccine-preventable diseases are only a plane
ride away.
Vaccines
have been one of the most important health gains in the past
century. Infants and young children are particularly vulnerable
to infectious diseases; that is why it is critical that they
are protected through immunization. The benefits of vaccination
far outweigh the risks. Children who are not immunized increase
the chance that others will get the disease. Since this effort
50 years ago, we can now protect children from more than 12
vaccine-preventable diseases, and disease rates have been
reduced by 99% in the United States. Immunizations are extremely
safe thanks to advancements in medical research and ongoing
review by doctors, researchers, and public health officials;
yet without diligent efforts to maintain immunization programs
here and strengthen them worldwide, the diseases seen 50 years
ago remain a threat to our children.
Top
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to related websites |
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