Cold War tensions and the polio vaccine polio vaccine. By the 1950, Jonas Salk had tested both live, attenuated polio vaccines and formaldehyde killed polio vaccines in monkeys and by 1952, began testing on humans. The killed vaccine was found to be effective, with proper filtration of the biological culture. A problem with this vaccine was the perception that to be adequately protected; a child had to get three Salk shots, properly spaced, and a recommended booster shot once a year, which was expensive. It should be noted however, that Jonas Salk, himself, has stated in interviews that this perception is not at all true. This vaccine
Jonas Salk known the world over, Salk, in the public's eye, had a superstar aura. Airplane pilots would announce that he was on board and passengers would burst into applause. Hotels routinely would upgrade him into their penthouse suites. A meal at a restaurant inevitably meant an interruption from an admirer, and scientists approached him with drop-jawed wonder as though some of the stardust might rub off." For the most part, however, Salk was "appalled at the demands on the public figure he has become and resentful of what he considers to be the invasion of his privacy", wrote "The New York