This day in Polio History- March 26th 1953

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the announcement, on radio,  that Dr. Jonas Salk had successfully tested a vaccine for polio on himself and his family.

Without Salk’s self-sacrifice, willingness and belief in the work he had undertaken, we may not have this vaccine for polio today. This vaccine ensures that polio remains at bay and so very near to eradication.

The work that Jonas Salk completed also paved the way for the future development of vaccines – no doubt contributing to the development of the Covid vaccine within such an amazing timescale.

On March 26, 1953, this news that Salk had tested a vaccine against poliomyelitis, the virus that causes the disease of polio, was the beginning of the end to the epidemics of polio that had devastated so many communities and families throughout the Western world.

We salute and thank Salk for his tenacity and brilliance. We are very grateful to this man, who did not even patent this vaccine, asking “would you patent the sun?”

Thank you Dr Salk.