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Discovery

Development of the Polio Vaccine

Also Known As Polio Vaccine
Virological, Parasitological and Immunologic Discovery

Two distinct polio vaccines were developed within a decade of each other. Jonas Salk and his University of Pittsburgh team developed an inactivated (killed-virus), injected vaccine, announced effective on 12 April 1955; it proved 60 to 70 percent effective against poliovirus type 1 and over 90 percent effective against types 2 and 3. Albert Sabin developed a live, attenuated oral vaccine, tested in Mexico and the Soviet Union in the late 1950s (ten million Soviet children were vaccinated in 1959 alone) and in commercial use from 1961. Both researchers presented results at a Stockholm meeting in November 1955. The 1955 Cutter incident, in which improperly inactivated Salk vaccine from one manufacturer caused several children to die or become paralyzed, damaged public confidence in the injected vaccine and helped the oral vaccine supplant it in many countries; the two approaches carry different tradeoffs that public health authorities still weigh today.

Facts
Discovery Year
1955 1
Discovery Date
1955-04-12 1
Discoverer
Jonas Salk (inactivated, injected vaccine, 1955) and Albert Sabin (live, oral vaccine, 1961), working independently. 1
Classification
Type/Classification
Vaccine 1
FAQs

What is the difference between the Salk and Sabin polio vaccines?

Salk's is an inactivated injected vaccine from 1955; Sabin's is a live oral vaccine used from 1961.

Jonas Salk and his University of Pittsburgh team developed an inactivated (killed-virus), injected vaccine, announced effective on 12 April 1955. Albert Sabin developed a live, attenuated oral vaccine, tested in Mexico and the Soviet Union in the late 1950s and in commercial use from 1961. The two approaches carry different tradeoffs that public health authorities still weigh today.

What was the Cutter incident?

Improperly inactivated Salk vaccine from one manufacturer harmed children in 1955.

In the 1955 Cutter incident, improperly inactivated Salk vaccine from one manufacturer caused several children to die or become paralyzed. It damaged public confidence in the injected vaccine and helped the oral vaccine supplant it in many countries.
Connections

Associated With

Vaccination, Treatments
Source Wikipedia: Poliomyelitis Vaccine
World Health Organization, Medical Institutions

WHO coordinates the global switch between oral and inactivated polio vaccine strategy as part of eradication policy.

Source CDC MMWR: Introduction of Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine and Switch from Trivalent to Bivalent Oral Poliovirus Vaccine

Discovered By

Albert Sabin, Healers

Live, oral vaccine, commercial use from 1961.

Source Wikipedia: Poliomyelitis Vaccine
Jonas Salk, Healers

Inactivated, injected vaccine, announced 1955.

Source Wikipedia: Poliomyelitis Vaccine

Long-Form Articles

After Cutter: how a manufacturing failure reshaped the choice between Salk and Sabin, Articles

Open Questions

Which polio vaccine strategy, Salk's injected inactivated vaccine or Sabin's live oral vaccine, better serves eradication?, Open Questions
Source CDC MMWR: Introduction of Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine and Switch from Trivalent to Bivalent Oral Poliovirus Vaccine
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Poliomyelitis Vaccine
Wikipedia
  • Salk's inactivated vaccine; Sabin's oral vaccine; Rivalry and adoption
    Salk vaccines improperly prepared by one company resulted in several children dying or becoming paralyzed
  • 1950-1955 section
    The results of the field trial were announced on 12 April 1955 (the tenth anniversary of the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose paralytic illness was generally believed to have been caused by polio).
  • entity description, Development of the Polio Vaccine
    Two distinct polio vaccines were developed within a decade of each other.
  • Discovered By: Jonas Salk
  • Discovered By: Albert Sabin
  • Associated With: Vaccination
View the Source
CDC MMWR: Introduction of Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine and Switch from Trivalent to Bivalent Oral Poliovirus Vaccine
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly ReportAssociated With: World Health OrganizationView the Source
Open Questions (1 open question)
Which polio vaccine strategy, Salk's injected inactivated vaccine or Sabin's live oral vaccine, better serves eradication?

The oral vaccine is cheaper, easier to administer and induces stronger intestinal immunity that blocks transmission, which made it the workhorse of the global eradication campaign; but its live virus can, rarely, revert to a form that causes circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV) outbreaks, 721 cases of which were reported worldwide between January 2005 and May 2016, 94 percent of them from the vaccine's own type 2 component. The injected inactivated vaccine carries no such reversion risk but is costlier, requires trained staff to administer, and confers weaker intestinal immunity. The World Health Organization coordinated a global, synchronized switch from trivalent to bivalent oral vaccine in April 2016 specifically to retire the type 2 oral component, introducing injected vaccine into routine schedules worldwide to cover the resulting gap, a policy tradeoff public health authorities continue to weigh as wild poliovirus nears eradication in the remaining endemic countries.

What would resolve this Sustained, verified interruption of all wild and vaccine-derived poliovirus transmission worldwide following a specific vaccine strategy, or a WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts consensus settling the remaining oral-to-inactivated transition timeline.
Public Health and EpidemiologyCDC MMWR: Introduction of Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine and Switch from Trivalent to Bivalent Oral Poliovirus Vaccine
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