Browse Getty Images' premium collection of high-quality, authentic Class 1930 stock photos, royalty-free images, and pictures. Class 1930 stock photos are available in a variety of sizes and formats to fit your needs.
www.gettyimages.com
^
Over 1200 school photos from the 1930s not a slide show
Poliomyelitis has existed for thousands of years, with depictions of the disease in ancient art. [1] The disease was first recognized as a distinct condition by the English physician Michael Underwood in 1789, [1] [7] and the virus that causes it was first identified in 1909 by the Austrian immunologist Karl Landsteiner.
The polio vaccine developed by Dr. Salk and colleagues is licensed in the U.S. Before the polio vaccine, the disease had been a major cause of disability in children. About 16,000 cases of polio (paralytic poliomyelitis) occurred each year in the U.S. in the 20th century compared with none in 2020.
Although a tainted batch of the Salk vaccine killed 11 people, Americans continued vaccinating their children.
Just weeks after the Salk vaccine had been declared safe, more than 200 polio cases were traced to lots contaminated with virulent live polio strains manufactured by the Cutter Laboratories in Berkeley, California. Most taken ill became severely paralyzed. Eleven died. In the haste to rush the vaccine to the public, the federal government had not provided proper supervision of the major drug companies contracted by the March of Dimes to produce 9 million doses of vaccine for 1955. Although the United States surgeon general ordered all inoculations temporarily halted, Americans continued to vaccinate themselves and their children. Outside of the “Cutter Incident,” not a single case of polio attributed to the Salk vaccine was ever contracted in the United States.