Community Chat

[Oznell]

On this day, February 23 in 1954, the Salk Polio vaccine was first administered, to a group of Pittsburgh school children.

Poliomyelitus was a scourge and regarded with terror and dread by parents and the public.  Permanent nerve damage, paralysis and death were often left in its wake.

Just imagine the relief when a vaccine was discovered and subsequently saved millions from a terrible fate.  Polio has been virtually eliminated from the United States, although not completely in some other parts of the globe, unfortunately.

February 23 is a milestone date to celebrate--  at least on this occasion, man's perennial struggle to subdue the ravages of disease bore fruit.  

[Sweetbay magnolia]

Yes.  This should not be forgotten.

[catter70]

I remember going to the school in the next town for my sugar cube. My sister who is 4 years older than I had polio in 1950, but recovered nicely, though she has some weakness now from post polio syndrome. A friend of mine also had polio around that time and was the poster boy for the Lehigh Valley.

[Still Raining]

Sometime shortly after this I recall families lining up outside my school for their dose.  It must have been a public health move but it was odd to see everyone in town there.

[Still Raining]

I also remember that this was a terror for little kids prior this.  Kids know.  We all had measles, mumps and chickenpox as routine events.  But this was different.  I recall being scared to swim and thought I would be struck down on the way home.

We all need to be grateful every day that our little ones know nothing of this.  And if I may get on my soapbox, please vaccinate yours.

[faeriemoon]

Hopefully the non-vaccinators don't ruin the success we have experienced.

[SilleeMee]

The history behind how they tested the vaccine is a an interesting and somewhat controversial one.  Some have suggested that the testing is linked to other viruses found in central Africa where the polio vaccine was initially given to the locals there. There are some that say these other viruses may have been spread by the vaccine unknowingly and that the end result was not something anyone could have predicted because the technology at the time was lacking regarding virus detection. 

There's always some bad that comes with the good in medicine.

[Judaline]

I never can remember whose came first-Salk or Sabin? Who actually invented it?

[conlt]

I saw a documentary on this and the first polio vaccine they used was accidentally made into a live vaccine by a mistake in the manufacturing and given to children. Some of them got polio and Dr. Salk was devastated even though it was not his fault. I remember as a child going to get the polio vaccine in the early 1960's. I also have known some adults with post-polio syndrome and their muscle strength just is not there. Here is a snippet to read about it. 

Safety incidents[edit]

In April 1955, soon after mass polio vaccination began in the US, the Surgeon General began to receive reports of patients who contracted paralytic polio about a week after being vaccinated with Salk polio vaccine from Cutter pharmaceutical company, with the paralysis limited to the limb the vaccine was injected into. In response the Surgeon General pulled all polio vaccine made by Cutter Laboratories from the market, but not before 250 cases of paralytic illness had occurred. Wyeth polio vaccine was also reported to have paralyzed and killed several children. It was soon discovered that some lots of Salk polio vaccine made by Cutter and Wyeth had not been properly inactivated, allowing live poliovirus into more than 100,000 doses of vaccine. In May 1955, the National Institutes of Health and Public Health Services established a Technical Committee on Poliomyelitis Vaccine to test and review all polio vaccine lots and advise the Public Health Service as to which lots should be released for public use. These incidents reduced public confidence in polio vaccine leading to a drop in vaccination rates.

[Vivian]

Dr Salk’s vaccine came first. I’m old enough to remember the fear of this horrible disease. Our parents were terrified that we’d contract polio and wind up permanently disabled. As a child, I saw what polio could do to people. We were told to stay away from crowds and free standing water (I’m not sure why that one). The relief upon the development of the vaccine was immense. By the time my kids were born, more vaccines became available. They never had to suffer those awful childhood diseases.