Polio vaccine A global effort to eradicate polio, led by the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and The Rotary Foundation, began in 1988 and has relied largely on the oral polio vaccine developed by Albert Sabin and Mikhail Chumakov (Sabin-Chumakov vaccine). Polio was eliminated in the Americas by 1994. The disease was officially eliminated in 36 Western Pacific countries, including China and Australia, in 2000. Europe was declared polio-free in 2002. Since January 2011, no cases of the disease have been reported in India, hence in February 2012, the country was taken off the WHO list of polio-endemic countries. In March 2014, India
John B. Robbins John B. Robbins John Bennett Robbins (born December 1, 1932) is a senior investigator at the National Institutes of Health, best known for his development of the vaccine against bacterial meningitis (Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib)) with his colleague Rachel Schneerson. Bacterial meningitis is the leading cause of acquired mental retardation in children. Robbins is a recipient of the 1996 Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research, the Pasteur Award from the World Health Organization and the Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal in 2001 which he received for playing a major role in the development of Hib conjugate vaccine that