who made the polio vaccine

The first widely used polio vaccine was developed by Jonas Salk , and a later oral polio vaccine was developed by Albert Sabin.

Who made the polio vaccine?

• In the early 1950s, American virologist Jonas Salk created the first effective polio vaccine, using “killed” (inactivated) poliovirus that was given by injection.

• A few years later, Albert Sabin developed an oral polio vaccine using weakened live virus, which was easier to administer to large numbers of children as drops by mouth.

Quick Scoop

• Salk’s injectable vaccine was announced as safe and effective in 1955 and quickly rolled out in mass vaccination campaigns, dramatically cutting polio cases in many countries.

• Sabin’s oral vaccine, introduced later in the 1950s, became central to global eradication efforts because it was cheaper, easier to give, and useful for large public health programs.

Mini timeline

1. Late 1940s: Key lab methods to grow poliovirus in human tissue were developed, making vaccine research possible.

2. Early 1950s: Salk and his team at the University of Pittsburgh finalize the inactivated polio vaccine and begin large trials.

3. 1955: The Salk vaccine is declared safe and effective and adopted widely.

4. Late 1950s–1960s: Sabin’s oral vaccine is tested internationally and adopted for mass immunization campaigns.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.