03/26/2008

Jonas Salk, Modern Miracle Worker
By Tom Range, Sr.

Among the Americans whose careers have been of benefit to the most people worldwide, Jonas Salk would rank in the top echelon.  During the 1950s the research of this biologist and physician produced the first effective polio vaccine.  In America in the 1950s summertime was a time of fear and anxiety for many parents; this was the season when children by the thousands became infected by the crippling disease infantile paralysis, known as polio. Movie theaters were emptied, dips in the community pool were curtailed, and contact with other young people was to be avoided as concerned parents guarded their children against the disease that had crippled President Franklin Roosevelt and fated so many to a life in an "iron lung."

The developer of the vaccine Jonas Salk was born in New York City in 1914, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants.  He entered the City College of New York intending to study law, but soon changed his major to pre-medicine.  He attended the School of Medicine of New York University, concentrating first on the development of a cure for the influenza virus that had caused the death of millions worldwide in 1919 at the end of World War I.  Upon graduating with a medical degree in 1939 he continued this path of research for the U.S. Army during the World War II years.  After the war he moved to Pittsburgh where he led the Virus Research laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh.  Throughout the early 1950s he developed, tested and refined the first successful polio vaccine.  In 1955 he began immunization at Pittsburgh's Arsenal Elementary School after a period of testing nationwide the year before.

The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, now known as the March of Dimes Foundation, chose Dr. Thomas Francis Jr. at the University of Michigan to implement the first mass Salk polio vaccine trial in 1954.  More than 300,000 professional people, mostly volunteers including physicians, nurses, school teachers, public health officials and community members, carried out the work.  In 1954, almost 75 percent of reported polio cases occurred in people under twenty years of age and 50 percent in children under ten.  The trial's study targeted some 1.8 million children in the first three grades of elementary school at 215 test sites.  These children, ages six to nine rolled up their sleeves for their inoculation injections of the Salk vaccine and became known as the "Polio Pioneers."   Each of them received a card reading: "The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis certifies that (name of participant) has been enrolled as a Polio Pioneer and this certificate of membership is hereby presented for taking part in the first national tests of a trial polio vaccine conducted during 1954."  The card was signed by Foundation president Basil O'Connor and along with the card each child was given a piece of candy.  A total of 1,829,916 individuals participated in these clinical trials and the results were announced on April 12, 1955, marking the tenth anniversary of the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

As a result of researching and developing the polio vaccine Dr. Salk was hailed as a miracle worker.  He further endeared himself to the public by refusing to patent the vaccine, stating he had no desire to profit personally from the discovery, but merely wished to see the vaccine distributed as widely as possible.  On an edition of the television program "See It Now" while being interviewed by host Edward R. Murrow, Salk was asked: "Who owns the patent on this vaccine?"  Surprised by Murrow's question presuming a profit motive for his creation, the doctor responded: "There is no patent.  Could you patent the sun?"
Salk's vaccine was instrumental in beginning the eradication of polio.  Polio epidemics in 1916 left about 6,000 dead and 27,000 paralyzed in the United States.  In 1952 a total of 57,628 polio cases were recorded in the country.  After the vaccine became available polio cases in the U.S. dropped by nearly 90 percent in only two years.  In countries where Salk's vaccine has remained in use the disease has been virtually eliminated.

Over the years Dr. Salk has been honored for his work in eradicating polio worldwide.  In 1975 he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and in 1977 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Jimmy Carter, with the following statement accompanying its presentation:  "Because of Doctor Jonas E. Salk our country is free from the cruel epidemics of poliomyelitis that once struck almost yearly.  Because of his tireless work untold hundreds of thousands who might have been crippled are sound in body today.  These are Doctor Salk's true honors and there is no way to add to them.  This Medal of Freedom can only express our gratitude and our deepest thanks."

Dr. Salk's last years were spent searching for a vaccine against AIDS.  He died on June 23, 1995 and age 80.

Send an Email Letter to Courier Editor - be sure to include your telephone number.