A Brief History
On April 12, 1955, the Polio vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk was declared safe and effective for use in the United States, ending the epidemic that killed or crippled mass numbers of children in the 19th and 20th Centuries. An earlier Polio vaccine in 1950 was not approved in the US, and in 1961, an oral vaccine became available.
Digging Deeper
Many diseases have been tamed or eliminated by vaccines, and today we ask, which vaccine is the greatest? Here are some contenders:
The smallpox vaccine, saving millions of lives, goes back to as long ago as 200 BC! The modern vaccine that eradicated smallpox dates to Edward Jenner around 1800.
The rabies vaccine, preventing a horrible death for victims of rabid bites, first appeared in 1885 against an almost invariably fatal disease.
The Tdap (Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis) Vaccine, with the Tetanus part dating to 1890 and the triple vaccine circa 1948.
Question for students (and subscribers): What is the most important vaccine? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Kluger, Jeffrey. Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio. Berkley Books, 2006.
Offit, Paul, MD. Vaccinated: From Cowpox to mRNA, the Remarkable Story of Vaccines. Harper Perennial, 2022.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by Wellcome Images, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.
