Dr. Thomas Francis announced that the Salk vaccine against polio was “safe, effective and… Dr. Thomas Francis announced that the Salk vaccine against polio was “safe, effective and potent” on April 12, 1955. Dr. Jonas Salk of Pitt had created the injectable vaccine in the basement of what is now known as Salk Hall. The vaccine aimed to prevent another epidemic like the one that had occurred just three years prior, during which 57,628 cases of polio were reported.

The integration of the Polio vaccine into pediatric medicine resulted in an immediate decrease in the prevalence of polio in the United States. Within two years of its availability, of incidence fell by 85 to 90 percent.

In 1961, Dr. Albert Sabin developed an oral polio vaccine. Licensed for use the same year, the U.S. Public Health Service suggested that it be discontinued in the United States in 1999. At this point, Salk’s vaccination became available in the form of a needle injection.

Thanks in part to the massive polio vaccination campaign of the 1960s and the creation of the Immunization Grant Program by Congress, only 396 cases of polio were reported in 1963. The year 1979 brought with it the last reported case of polio in the United States.

While progress in the fight against polio was being made in the United States, children abroad still suffered from the disease. In 1985, Rotary International began the PolioPlus program. Since the establishment of this program, the organization has donated more than $500 million to the worldwide battle against polio.

In 1988, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative was launched, estimating that about 350,000 people had been stricken with the polio virus worldwide. Other organizations, including Rotary International, World Health Organization and UNICEF banded with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to aid the fight against childhood polio.

The next decade and a half brought with it a polio-free certification for the Americas, the Western Pacific Region and the European Region.

The fight against polio continues today. In 2004, only slightly more than 1,200 cases of polio existed worldwide.

Information compiled from “50th Anniversary of the Polio Vaccine Commemorative Timeline.”

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