In 1921, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who would later become President of the United States, was struck by polio while vacationing at his summer h...
In 1921, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who would later become President of the United States, was struck by polio while vacationing at his summer home on Campobello Island. The disease left the 39-year-old future president permanently paralyzed from the waist down.
Seventeen years later, in 1938, after Roosevelt had been in the White House for five years, he played a crucial role in establishing the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, which would later become the primary funding source for the development of the polio vaccine by Jonas Salk.
By the summer of 1952, the polio virus had reached epidemic proportions in the United States, with approximately 58,000 cases reported, over 3,000 deaths, and more than 21,000 individuals left paralyzed.
Most scientists of the time believed that effective vaccines could only be developed using live viruses. However, American physician Jonas Salk (1914 - 1995) managed to develop one of the first vaccines against the virus.
The clinical trial for the vaccine was the largest in American history, employing a double-blind method for the first time. The trial involved 20,000 doctors and public health officials, 64,000 school employees, and 220 volunteers, with over 1.8 million students participating.
To rally support, celebrities such as Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe participated in the campaign to promote the trial, while Roosevelt used his radio broadcasts to encourage public contributions.
Salk challenged the prevailing scientific belief by developing a "killed-virus" vaccine. He cultured samples of the virus and then inactivated them using formaldehyde, rendering them incapable of replication.
By injecting these inactivated strains into the bloodstream, the vaccine tricked the immune system into producing protective antibodies without introducing a weakened form of the virus into healthy individuals.
Dr. Salk tested the vaccine on himself and his family, injecting himself, his wife, and their three children in their kitchen after sterilizing the needles and syringes on their stove. He publicly announced the success of the initial human trials on March 26, 1953.
On April 12, 1955, the vaccine was licensed in the United States, and it was declared safe, effective, and powerful—an almost miraculous breakthrough. This led to widespread vaccination campaigns across the globe and paved the way for the efforts that eventually eradicated polio in the United States by 1979.
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