The U.S. Public Health Service · Episode 22 of 34 · 44 min
Polio: Private Philanthropy's Triumph, the Regulator's Role
Polio peaked at nearly 58,000 U.S. cases in 1952, and America remembers beating it, but the money came from the March of Dimes and the science from university labs. A privately run 1954 field trial led to the Salk vaccine being declared safe in April 1955, and the Public Health Service licensed it that day. When defective Cutter doses paralyzed about 200 children weeks later, the PHS investigated and rebuilt vaccine-safety regulation.
Who's who
- Franklin D. Roosevelt+28 more episodesParalyzed by polio in 1921; founded the March of Dimes in 1938
- Jonas Salk+1 more episodeDeveloped the killed-virus polio vaccine at Pittsburgh
- Thomas Francis Jr.Ran the 1954 field trial and announced results in 1955
- Albert Sabin+1 more episodeDeveloped the oral live-virus polio vaccine at Cincinnati
- Paul OffitVaccine scholar who studied the Cutter incident's shadow on litigation
Where it happens
- University of Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaWhere Salk developed his vaccine
- Cincinnati, Ohio+2 more episodesWhere Sabin developed his oral vaccine
Timeline
- 1938Roosevelt founds the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, the March of Dimes
- 1952U.S. polio peaks at about 57,879 cases
- 1954Field trial enrolls over a million Polio Pioneers
- April 12, 1955Salk vaccine declared safe and effective and licensed the same day
- April-May 1955Cutter incident causes about 200 paralytic cases and about 10 deaths
- 1961-1962Sabin's oral vaccine licensed
Still debated
Who deserves credit for the polio victory is a question of framing, since funding was private and science academic. The Cutter incident is read both as a regulatory failure and as the birth of modern vaccine-safety oversight, and the Salk and Sabin camps were rivals.
← PreviousMalaria: The Disease That Created the CDCNext →Measles: From Universal Rite to Resurgent Threat
Connected episodes in other series
Alive or KilledA Shot of Reason · Episode 2Also features Albert Sabin, Jonas Salk
Standard Oil's Secret Cartel With Nazi GermanyBackyard Empire: The U.S. in Latin America · Episode 3Also features Franklin D. Roosevelt
The Good War's Fine Print: The WWII Draft's Forgotten LosersGreeting: America and the Draft · Episode 5Also features Franklin D. Roosevelt
FDR's Thousand-Mile Tree Wall: The Dust Bowl ShelterbeltGround Truth: Forest Service Research · Episode 5Also features Franklin D. Roosevelt