Saved from polio?

The public is constantly told the triumphant story of how the vaccine saved humanity from the polio virus, but how true is it?

Photo from LIFE (May 9, 1955)

In 1955 after a massive vaccination campaign against polio, a “hitch” was found in the system. Instead of giving a vaccine, as many believed, to prevent polio and death health officials were spreading it through vaccination. An article published in LIFE magazine in 1955 testifies to this forgotten chapter in vaccination history.

Halt and End

The cause of this misfortune was that Cutter Laboratories failed to inactive the polio virus sufficiently when producing the vaccine. Because of this failure a number of children contracted polio from the vaccines and some died. To remedy this public health image crisis the vaccination campaign was halted and Cutter was shut down. While Cutter Laboratories became the scapegoat for this disaster it was not the only producer who made dangerous vaccines. Wyeth, which still produces vaccines, also produced defective and dangerous polio vaccines in 1955. Yet, somehow they avoided being shut down like Cutter.

Suffice to say there is much more to the story than “the vaccine saved us from polio.”

Sources:
“A Sudden Hitch in the Program: U.S. Bans on Brand of Vaccine as Some Children Contract Polio,” LIFE 38, May 9, 1955, 38–39.
Robert L. Magoffin, “Epidemiologic Observations on the Safety and Effectiveness in California in 1955,” California Medicine 85 (August 1956): 79–86.
Justin E. Juskewitch et al., “Lessons From the Salk Polio Vaccine: Methods for and Risks of Translation,” Clinical Translation Science, 3 (2010): 182–185.