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Jonas Salk, MD
The New Yorker Who Tamed Polio

There were doubts that a killed virus vaccine could protect people. Jonas Salk and his team proved it could.

Chapter 1
Polio Before Jonas Salk

Parents widely feared polio as yearly summer epidemics brought news of children paralyzed or killed by it.

June 17, 1894
First U.S. Polio Epidemic

1908
Poliovirus Identified

June 17, 1916
New York City Polio Epidemic

1935
Early Polio Vaccine Trials

October 22, 1952
IgG Used for Polio Protection

Chapter 2
Jonas Salk Joins the Fight Against Polio

With recent discoveries in how polio acted to cause disease, Jonas Salk and his team go to work on a vaccine.

1952
Polio Cases Surge

1952
Salk Begins Early Polio Vaccine Tests

May 16, 1953
Salk Gives Vaccine to His Family

April 25, 1954
Massive Polio Vaccine Trial Begins in U.S.

Chapter 3
After Salk's Vaccine

The Salk polio vaccine was not the only polio vaccine developed, but it did set the stage for polio elimination.

April 24, 1955
The Cutter Incident

1959
Soviet Trials of Sabin's Live Poliovirus Vaccine

1988
Global Polio Eradication Initiative

September 29, 1994
Polio Declared Eliminated from the Americas

June 21, 2002
Polio Eliminated in Europe

April 17, 2016
Type 2 Oral Polio Vaccine Discontinued