History of Medicine

Polio Vaccination In 1947, while at the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Jonas Salk began his research on poliovirus. In 1952, Salk was the first to develop a successful vaccine using a mixture of the three types of viruses grown in monkey kidney cultures. He also developed a process using formalin, a chemical that inactivated the whole virus. What followed was massive testing of the vaccine in clinical trials in the United States and parts of Canada, begun in 1954. The scope of the trials was unprecedented in medical history and cases of polio fell dramatically in the vaccinated test groups. In 1955, the U.S. Government granted permission for the vaccine to be distributed to children. Polio