How the polio vaccine changed the world
How the polio vaccine changed the world
Jonas Salk announced the first polio vaccine in 1953.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Transcript
SPEAKER 1: A special report on the Salk polio vaccine.
SPEAKER 2: Many questions have been raised in recent weeks about the new vaccine against poliomyelitis. People are asking, is it absolutely safe? Does it really protect against polio? Will there be enough vaccine for large scale use this summer? I will give you the facts about the vaccine as I know them. And I want to give you some idea of the outlook for the future.
SPEAKER 3: The polio virus is likely ancient in origin. However, the first major epidemics of polio occurred during the 19th century, hitting Europe and the United States the hardest. By the early 1910s, panic over the virus had broken out due to the spread of polio in Europe and the United States.
Polio caused nearly 27,000 cases of paralysis and roughly 6,000 deaths in the US in 1916. In the 1930s, research into potential vaccines for polio attracted increasing amounts of funding, with test subjects ranging from mice to primates and even children.
After decades of experimentation, Jonas Salk announced the first polio vaccine known as IPV, or inactivated polio vaccine, in 1953. This vaccine, which injects the killed virus into patients was adopted by the United States officially in 1955. And in the following years, polio cases in the United States fell from 18 cases per 100,000 people to fewer than two per 100,000.
At the same time, another vaccine was being developed by a man named Hilary Koprowsi. Koprowski's experimentation created the first oral polio vaccine, or OPV, using a live weakened version of the virus. Albert Sabin's rival OPV developed in the late '50s became the main defense against polio throughout the world. Both the Salk and Sabin vaccines typically contained strains of all three variants of the polio virus, PV1, PV2, and PV3.
In the early 2000s, vaccines known as bivalent oral vaccines were developed to target only PV1 and PV3 because of the drop in circulation of the PV2 strain. By the 2020s, most of the world had been declared polio-free, thanks to successful vaccination programs across the globe. But due to stigma concerning the vaccine, mistrust of the Western world and poorly treated water systems, polio has survived in certain parts of the world. So what's next for scientists in their battle against the virus?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
SPEAKER 2: Many questions have been raised in recent weeks about the new vaccine against poliomyelitis. People are asking, is it absolutely safe? Does it really protect against polio? Will there be enough vaccine for large scale use this summer? I will give you the facts about the vaccine as I know them. And I want to give you some idea of the outlook for the future.
SPEAKER 3: The polio virus is likely ancient in origin. However, the first major epidemics of polio occurred during the 19th century, hitting Europe and the United States the hardest. By the early 1910s, panic over the virus had broken out due to the spread of polio in Europe and the United States.
Polio caused nearly 27,000 cases of paralysis and roughly 6,000 deaths in the US in 1916. In the 1930s, research into potential vaccines for polio attracted increasing amounts of funding, with test subjects ranging from mice to primates and even children.
After decades of experimentation, Jonas Salk announced the first polio vaccine known as IPV, or inactivated polio vaccine, in 1953. This vaccine, which injects the killed virus into patients was adopted by the United States officially in 1955. And in the following years, polio cases in the United States fell from 18 cases per 100,000 people to fewer than two per 100,000.
At the same time, another vaccine was being developed by a man named Hilary Koprowsi. Koprowski's experimentation created the first oral polio vaccine, or OPV, using a live weakened version of the virus. Albert Sabin's rival OPV developed in the late '50s became the main defense against polio throughout the world. Both the Salk and Sabin vaccines typically contained strains of all three variants of the polio virus, PV1, PV2, and PV3.
In the early 2000s, vaccines known as bivalent oral vaccines were developed to target only PV1 and PV3 because of the drop in circulation of the PV2 strain. By the 2020s, most of the world had been declared polio-free, thanks to successful vaccination programs across the globe. But due to stigma concerning the vaccine, mistrust of the Western world and poorly treated water systems, polio has survived in certain parts of the world. So what's next for scientists in their battle against the virus?
[MUSIC PLAYING]