The most important invention in your lifetime is…
The Polio Vaccine! I remember standing in line when I was five or six to get the live vaccine in a sugar cube. Now the vaccine is given in an inactivated form (or IPV) as a series of four shots at 2 months, 4 months, 6 to 18 months, and again at 4 to 6 years of age.
Dr. Albert Sabin, of the Children’s Hospital Research Foundation in Cincinnati, Ohio found a brand-new way to vaccinate children against polio – and it involved a sugar cube. Using a weakened version of the live virus, this new vaccine was able to be taken orally. It only took a small drop of the vaccine, dropped onto a sugar cube. Then, it was administered to the children. It was quick and easy.
When parents got word of this new vaccine, they flocked to local schools, churches, fire stations and other public meeting places, where the vaccines were being administered. Sabin’s vaccine quickly became the vaccine of choice, as it cost less money to make and was easier to produce. Lines snaked around buildings offering the vaccine as families lined up to make sure their children were protected.
Since both vaccines were released, polio has been virtually eradicated across the globe. However, there is still no cure for polio if one contracts it. But many will never forget their polio vaccination with a simple little sugar cube. The contributions of Dr. Salk and Dr. Sabin will forever be remembered in the world of medicine and the eradication of polio. (Passport Health)
Read more about Poilo here: What is Polio? (End polio.org)
Leave a Reply