Jonas Salk was a renowned American medical researcher and virologist who developed the inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) and paved the way for the near eradication of polio. Here’s his inspiring story:
Jonas Salk was born in 1914 in New York City to a family of Russian Jewish immigrants. He attended the City College of New York and later earned his medical degree from New York University School of Medicine.
Salk’s early research focussed on influenza, and he developed a vaccine that was used during World War II. Salk’s work on polio began in the 1940s.
Poliovirus, or polio, is a highly infectious disease, mostly affecting young children below five years, that attacks the nervous system and can lead to spinal and respiratory paralysis, and in some cases death. It has existed since prehistoric times and affected children around the world for millennia.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, frequent epidemics saw polio become the most feared disease in the world. Many who survived the disease faced lifelong consequences. Deformed limbs meant they needed leg braces, crutches or wheelchairs, and some had to use specially designed breathing devices.
By the mid-20th century, the poliovirus could be found all over the world and killed or paralysed over half a million people every year. With no cure, and epidemics on the rise, there was an urgent need for a vaccine.
Salk developed the inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) in the early 1950s, which he tested on himself, his family and some volunteers. The IPV was later tested in large-scale field trials involving over 1.6 million children in the United States, Canada and Finland. The vaccine was declared safe and effective, leading to a dramatic decline in polio cases.
Salk’s vaccine saved countless lives and prevented millions of cases of polio, earning him international recognition.
Salk’s work was driven by a desire to serve humanity, and he refused to patent his vaccine, ensuring that it would be widely available. In a 1955 interview, when asked who owned the patent for IPV, he replied: “Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?”
Albert Sabin
Meanwhile, a second type of polio vaccine, the oral polio vaccine (OPV) was developed by physician and microbiologist Albert Sabin, a Polish-American medical researcher, around 1957. Sabin’s vaccine was live-attenuated (using the virus in a weakened form) and could be given orally, making it easier to administer on a large scale.
While IPV protected the vaccinated child, it did not stop the poliovirus from spreading between children. OPV, on the other hand, interrupted the chain of transmission, meaning that this was a powerful vaccine to stop polio outbreaks in their tracks.
Image 1: A US postage stamp of 2006 commemorates the work of Jonas Salk as a medical scientist, as part of the “Distinguished Americans” series.
Image 2: A US postage stamp issued in 1999 commemorates the development of polio vaccine.
Image 3: The US postal service issued a postage stamp in 1957 to honour those who helped eradicate polio.
Image 4: The US Postal Service issued an 87-cent Dr. Albert Sabin definitive stamp in 2006 to commemorate his 100th birth anniversary, as part of the “Distinguished Americans” series.