Last Updated on September 16, 2022
When it comes to the development of the polio vaccine, some people have more questions than answers. Some people wonder who invented it, while others want to know more about Jonas Salk. Whether you’re an Albert Sabin fan or would rather learn about Jonas Salk, you’ll probably learn more in this article. Read on to learn about the two men who helped create this revolutionary medicine.
Albert Sabin
In the early 1920s, Albert Bruce Sabin and his family fled to the United States from Poland. He attended New York University and later worked at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, and earned his MD in 1931. Sabin then joined the faculty of the Medical University of South Carolina and later became a scholar at the Fogarty International Center for Advanced Studies in Health Sciences. After developing a vaccine to protect children from polio, Sabin turned his attention to other diseases and the connection between viruses and human cancer.
The first Polio vaccine was introduced in 1957 by Albert Salk and his team, who had developed an inactivated poliovirus vaccine. In 1960, Sabin and his colleagues developed an oral vaccine, and began widespread immunisation programs. The results were impressive, with the first reported case of polio occurring in 1957, while the number of cases dropped to less than 15 000 a year by 1956.
However, some controversy arose over the choice of polio vaccine. The original vaccine had some side effects, including paralysis. Sabin argued that the live-virus vaccine was safer than the killed-virus version. However, recent studies have shown that the live-virus vaccine does carry some risk of paralysis. This controversy continues today, but scientists are optimistic that the Polio vaccine will continue to make a difference.
The development of the polio vaccine began when Sabin learned that repeated passages of poliovirus between rats resulted in weakened strains. By studying these weakened strains in cell culture, Sabin was able to develop a live-attenuated Polio vaccine. While a weakened strain of the virus was not able to infect the nervous system, it could still multiply in gut tissues and trigger the production of antibodies. But it was a difficult process, which took many years.
In 1957, Dr. Albert Sabin began testing his live vaccine on humans. The new vaccine was a big step forward in eradicating the disease and saved many lives. It also made the vaccine more accessible and easier to administer. The new polio vaccine was widely used in the United States and the rest of the world. And it proved to be more effective than the old one, which led to a long-lasting cure.
Jonas Salk
While still in his teens, Jonas Salk studied at the New York University School of Medicine. He had decided early on that he would not become a practicing physician but rather a medical researcher. He met renowned infectious disease expert Thomas Francis Jr. during his pre-medical studies, and the two of them began working together on vaccine development. As a medical student, Salk also dabbled in influenza virus research, and after graduating in 1939, he was awarded a National Research Council fellowship to study at the University of Michigan. His work there was supported by the U.S. Army and the US government, and the two men spent six years developing a vaccine for influenza.
In 1953, the Vaccine Evaluation Center at the University of Pittsburgh conducted a field trial on 1.8 million children. After this, the scientists announced that the vaccine was 90 percent effective in preventing paralytic poliomyelitis. Salk did not acknowledge his collaborators, but he did thank his funders and colleagues for their contributions. He also thanked fourteen groups in his press conference.
Eventually, Salk took a professorship at the University of Pittsburgh and became the director of the Virus Research Laboratory there. During his research, he identified three strains of the polio virus and developed a vaccine using these strains. This vaccine would become the first to eliminate polio. Throughout his career, Jonas Salk was credited for saving millions of lives worldwide.
After studying pneumonia in medical school, Sabin worked to develop an effective vaccine to protect against the disease. He was awarded the Soviet Union’s highest civilian award for his work. During the Cold War, his work was hampered by other projects. He went on to develop vaccines against dengue fever and the common cold. But his legacy lives on today. When he died, he was buried under the ashes of his fellow scientists.
In the 1950s, President Eisenhower signed the Polio Vaccination Assistance Act, paving the way for a better world for all. Polio was eradicated from North America in 1994, and most of the rest of the world soon followed. Yet, despite its success, the disease continues to spread and has spread to ten countries in Africa and Asia. Despite widespread support for the Polio Vaccine, a distrustful attitude towards vaccines has plagued the disease’s elimination. In fact, the polio vaccine has caused six deaths, two hundred people infected with polio and over 200 other illnesses.
Albert Sabin’s live-virus vaccine
Known for his innovative and effective polio vaccine, Albert Sabin is a medical statesman. A medical school graduate, he later served as a consultant, lecturer, and advocate for global human rights. His vision for a live-virus vaccine included fighting diseases of poverty, ignorance, and conflict. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. The live-virus vaccine for polio has saved many lives over the past century.
While in medical school, Dr. Sabin had been studying pneumonia. During this time, he had been studying preventative medicine at the Lister Institute of Preventative Medicine in London. Upon his return to the United States, he pursued his interest in polioviruses at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. He and a colleague developed a live-virus vaccine using brain tissue from an embryonic fetus.
A year before Salk developed the first live-virus vaccine, Sabin worked in the laboratory of Peter Olitsky, a professor at the Rockefeller Institute. In 1936, he cultured the poliovirus in vitro in human embryonic nervous tissue. This confirmed that polio was a disease of the nervous system. After further experiments with monkey embryos and other animal models, Sabin was able to produce a live-virus vaccine for polio.
Interestingly, a few months after the OPV was approved for use in the United States, the first documented case of a neurological illness associated with the vaccination had occurred. However, many medical practitioners disagreed and Sabin did not conduct larger clinical trials. Rivers, the father of American virology, advised Sabin against conducting larger trials. However, many people were skeptical, and they remained hesitant until after the vaccine was approved.
Initially, the live-virus vaccine was replaced by the killed-type vaccine in 1963. Its development was hampered by the cold war. Nevertheless, it was widely used in the United States until the 1970s, when the Salk killed-virus vaccine was approved. In the meantime, Sabin continued developing his live-virus vaccine. The vaccine was a great success, and in fact, it was the first one to be approved by the FDA.
Jonas Salk’s killed-virus vaccine
In 1947, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis to fund research for a vaccine against poliomyelitis. The foundation, now known as the March of Dimes, helped Salk launch his research into developing a polio vaccine. The foundation’s funding enabled Salk to test his vaccine on himself, his wife, and his own children.
Initially, only those infected with the killed-virus vaccine developed permanent immunity to the disease. Later, an oral version of the vaccine became available, making it more affordable to administer. The two vaccines helped eradicate polio, though a handful of cases still occur each year. The World Health Organization has urged countries that were once polio-free to revert to Salk’s killed-virus vaccine.
In 1948, Salk and his colleagues used formaldehyde to kill poliovirus and protect monkeys from paralytic poliomyelitis. Tests on children infected with the disease also showed that Salk’s vaccine was effective against all three strains of the virus. It was approved by the National Foundation’s Committee on Vaccines. By the mid-1950s, the polio rate had decreased by nearly 50%.
Although the original “killed-virus” vaccine for polio was highly effective, many scientists thought that the vaccine was ineffective. The new vaccine was developed by Salk after he deactivated samples of the virus with formaldehyde, which prevented it from reproducing. The result was a vaccine that tricked the immune system into producing antibodies and protective antibodies.
About The Author
Alison Sowle is the typical tv guru. With a social media evangelist background, she knows how to get her message out there. However, she's also an introvert at heart and loves nothing more than writing for hours on end. She's a passionate creator who takes great joy in learning about new cultures - especially when it comes to beer!