“Jonas Salk - How the Polio Vaccine Changed Public Health”

“Turning Points in History” was the theme for the 2024 National History Day Competition.

We celebrate the work of Chloe and Daniela from San Diego, California for their successful entry.

When their parents contacted us, we were happy to help provide information about the realities of polio to these two amazing 10 year old girls.

Prior to our video call in January, we shared information from our website with them and they prepared questions for us. Survivors Carol Ferguson, Joe Randig and Shirley Smith participated.

One of their questions was: “Did any of you meet Jonas Salk”.

We didn’t tell them ahead of time that survivor Joe Randig actually had. It was so much fun to see their smiles when he held up his photo getting his polio vaccine from Dr. Salk in Pittsburgh.

Chloe and Daniela’s prize winning poster.

Having taught middle school for 35 years in spite of double braces and crutches, Shirley had a special perspective to share.

Completion of a poster was one of the categories in their age group. In March, 2024 Chloe and Daniela competed in the county competition in San Diego and won first place, enabling them to represent San Diego county at the state-wide competition, held in Sacramento in April.

In Sacramento, 1,600 students from across the state competed in different categories including posters, podcasts, exhibits, and documentaries.

Chloe and Daniela were proud to present their poster on the polio vaccine and increase awareness of the importance of Jonas Salk’s work.

“In the early 1950’s, polio infected at least thirty thousand people each year in the United States alone. Jonas Salk invented the polio vaccine in 1952 and it became available on April 12, 1955.”

Before the Vaccine

Polio was a very dangerous disease, especially for kids. There was no cure.

“Although many polio victims eventually recovered entirely, all too many died. Even more were left paralyzed, unable to use their legs or other parts of their bodies. Polio patients were kept alive in breathing machines called iron lungs. (Hargrove, 1990)”

“I was lying in an ambulance, and it felt like my heels were on fire. The hospitals were busy with polio patients.” (Shirley Smith)

“We admitted 464 proven cases of polio just at the University Hospital which is unbelievable . . . Maybe two or three hours after a lot of these kids would come in with a stiff neck or a fever, they’d be dead. It was unbelievable.” (Tocci, 2003)“The vaccine was very successful and the campaign ensured that everyone accepted to take it. by creating the polio vaccine, Jonas Salk saved many lives, created a turning point in public health and inspired future vaccines."

“Nobody even went outside because they were too scared. For example: ‘People in Minneapolis were so frightened that there was nobody in the restaurants. There was practically no traffic, the stores were empty. It was considered a fear of (bravery) almost to go out and mingle in public.’ (Tocci, 2003)”

The Vaccine

Jonas Salk tested the polio vaccine in 1952. First, he tried the vaccine on himself, his wife and sons. Next, in 1954 he tried it on two million first, second and third graders. One of them was Joe Randig, who we interviewed.

Letter from the Salk Research Lab to the Randig Family - Source: Joe Randig

“The results were announced on April 12th, 1955, and showed that the vaccine was 90% effective. “Ninety percent was not good enough for Salk, he wanted to make the vaccine 100 percent effective.” (Durrett. 2003)

Jonas Salk said: “The most important thing to me is to get back into the lab.”

“ ‘The vaccine works’ with those three words, Dr. Francis, in front of the glaring TV and newsreel cameras at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, gave the world what it wanted. ‘The Salk polio vaccine is safe, effective and potent he added.’ ” (Reis, 2006)

The Vaccination Campaign

“Vaccines would be nothing without a vaccination campaign. The polio vaccine and the vaccination campaign were a model for future scientists.”

After the Vaccine