Dr. Jonas Salk is credited with developing the first polio vaccine, which was approved for use in 1955. While AJHS does not possess the papers of the noted virologist, that honor goes to the University of California San Diego, we do house in our collections two letters that shed light on Dr. Salk’s work and determination at a critical point in his career.
Polio is an aggressive disease that attacks the central nervous system and can lead to paralytic poliomyelitis or paralysis. Children are highly susceptible to the disease, though rare it can also be contracted by adults. Franklin D. Roosevelt contracted the disease at age 39 and suffered paralysis but was able to partially recover, though he remained disabled for the rest of his life. Polio epidemics were common and highly feared, the Salk vaccine was developed at a moment when yearly polio cases in the U.S. ranged between 25,000 to 60,000. A particularly harsh outbreak in 1952 resulted in the death of over 3000 people.
Salk’s inoculation method injected a sample of polio virus that had been killed (inactivated) into the patient, thereby causing the generation of anti-bodies. After various controlled trials the vaccine was declared a success on April 12, 1955. Salk did not patent the vaccine, and therefore did not monetarily profit from it. For affordability and impact Salk partnered with pharmaceutical companies like Eli Lilly and Wyeth Laboratories to disseminate the vaccine widely. Unfortunately, an ill-conceived preparation of the vaccine at Cutter Laboratories resulted in some cases of partial, full paralysis, and some deaths. Known as the “Cutter incident” the vaccine was recalled in April 1955 and investigated; procedure was corrected with safe vaccinations resuming in the fall of 1955. It is during this period of recall when our first letter from Salk was written:
Sol Marshall from the Westside Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles had offered to honor Salk for his discovery and invited him to attend a ceremony at the JCC. Dr. Salk responded, “But you will understand, I am sure, when I say that before I can feel free to accept such honor, there are problems that have to be solved. Time is of the essence and so I must, of necessity, do with it the most that I can.”
The following year, Mr. Marshall again reached out to Salk, who once again declined the invitation. In Salk’s September 1956 response we see his persistent urgency and motivation: “In fairness, not only to myself, but to others to whom I feel a strong sense of responsibility, I see no choice but to devote myself fully, at this time, to exploring new problems. I do not take lightly your warm invitation but I know I can try to do too much only to find I have been able to do too little.”
Soon after the Salk vaccine was approved an oral polio vaccine was developed by Dr. Albert Sabin. Sabin’s vaccine used a weakened live form of the polio virus (live- attenuated) that could be dispensed orally as drops. Trials conducted in the Soviet Union in the late 1950s found the vaccine to be safe and effective, and more easily administered to children on a mass scale. Additional improvements on the vaccine would continue to develop, and international campaigns for mass vaccination would take place over the course of the 20th century. By 1994 the World Health Organization declared the Americas polio-free, and other continental regions followed in subsequent years. The WHO advises that consistent vaccination continue in the pursuit of complete eradication.
Sources:
Center for Disease Control (2024, July 31). Historical Vaccine Concerns. CDC Vaccine Safety. Retrieved November 15, 2024, from https://www.cdc.gov/vaccine-safety/historical-concerns/index.html#:~:text=Cutter%20Incident%3A%201955&text=Over%20250%20cases%20of%20polio,cases%20of%20polio%20were%20detected.
Fitzpatrick M. (2006). The Cutter Incident: How America’s First Polio Vaccine Led to a Growing Vaccine Crisis. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 99(3), 156.
Science History Institute (n.d.). Jonas Salk and Albert Bruce Sabin. Science History Institute Museum & Library. Retrieved November 15, 2024, from https://www.sciencehistory.org/education/scientific-biographies/jonas-salk-and-albert-bruce-sabin/
Shampo, M. A., & Kyle, R. A. (1998). Jonas E. Salk—Discoverer of a Vaccine Against Poliomyelitis. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 73(12), 1176. https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(11)64488-1/fulltext
Tan, S. Y., & Ponstein, N. (2019). Jonas Salk (1914-1995): A vaccine against polio. Singapore medical journal, 60(1), 9–10. https://doi.org/10.11622/smedj.2019002
WHO (n.d.). History of Polio. Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Retrieved November 15, 2024, from https://polioeradication.org/about-polio/history-of-polio/
WHO (n.d.). History of the Polio Vaccine. World Health Organization. Retrieved November 15, 2024, from https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/history-of-vaccination/history-of-polio-vaccination
