Polio Vaccine: 50 Years of Success

Fifty years ago, on April 12, 1955, Dr. Thomas Francis Jr., director of the Poliomyelitis Vaccine Evaluation Center at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, announced to the world that the Salk polio vaccine was “safe, effective, and potent.”
To commemorate this anniversary, we would like to recommend to you the following links to visit, to see how history changed on that day and where it is going.
— 50th Anniversary of the Polio Vaccine — Official Website at the University of Michigan
— Text from the first press release on polio vaccine evaluation results, April 12, 1955 — from the University of Michigan School of Public Health
— The polio vaccine 50 years later: Key player reflects on vaccine’s progress — AMANews interviews Dr. Julius S. Youngner, ScD.
— The polio vaccine 50 years later: This year could be polio’s last gasp — AMANews looks ahead.
— When Polio, Every Parent’s Nightmare, Fell to Dr. Salk — from the New York Times.
In the picture above: San Antonio, 1962: aerial view of a line of people waiting for polio vaccine.
Thanks everybody for stopping by to check our Friday feature “the good old days…” See you next week and have a wonderful weekend!