On March 26 , 1953 , Dr. Jonas Salk went on CBS radio toannounce his vaccinefor poliomyelitis . He had form for three years to develop the infantile paralysis vaccinum , assail a disease that killed 3000 Americans in 1952 alone , along with 58,000 newly reported cases . Polio was a scourge , and had been infecting humans around the world for millennia . Salk ’s vaccinum was the first hardheaded way to fight it , and it worked — poliowas formally eliminated in the U.S. in 1979 .
Salk ’s method was to kill various var. of the acute anterior poliomyelitis computer virus , then shoot them into a patient role . The patient ’s ownimmune systemwould then develop antibodies to the numb virus , preventing future transmission by lively computer virus . Salk ’s first test issue were patients who had already had polio … and then himself and his family . His research was funded by grants , which motivate him togive awaythe vaccinum after it was fully test .
Clinical trials of Salk ’s vaccine began in 1954 . By 1955 the visitation proved it was both dependable and effective , and mass vaccinations of American schoolchildren followed . The result was an immediate reduction in new cases . Salk became a renown because his vaccine saved so many lives so quickly .
Salk ’s vaccinum required a shot . In 1962 , Dr. Albert Sabinunveiledan oral vaccine using attenuated ( weakened but not shoot down ) polio virus . Sabin ’s vaccinum was arduous to examine in America in the late 1950s , because so many multitude had been inoculated using the Salk vaccinum . ( Sabin did much of his testing in the Soviet Union . ) unwritten polio vaccinum , whether with attenuate or drained virus , is still the preferred method acting of vaccination today . Polioisn’t wholly eradicatedaround the world , though we ’re very close .
Here ’s a vintage newsreel from the mid 1950s assure the level :
For more information on Dr. Jonas Salk and his work , clickhere .
