The beginning of large scale polio vaccination in February 1954, when the inactivated poliovirus vaccine developed in the early 1950s by the American physician Jonas Salk was administered to American schoolchildren. The vaccine contained killed virus and was given by injection, and in the years that followed the incidence of polio in the United States fell from 18 cases per 100,000 people to fewer than 2 per 100,000, the opening act of the vaccination effort that later drove global eradication campaigns.
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1. Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.Polio vaccineQuote, Polio vaccine
In the following years, the incidence of polio in the United States fell from 18 cases per 100,000 people to fewer than 2 per 100,000.
Salk Institute Website
Salk Institute for Biological StudiesCredited To: Jonas Salk, About Jonas Salk biography, 1954 launchQuote, Credited To: Jonas Salk, About Jonas Salk biography, 1954 launch
In 1954, national testing began on one million children, ages six to nine, who became known as the Polio Pioneers
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