Albert Sabin Albert Sabin Albert Bruce Sabin (born Abram Saperstein; August 26, 1906 – March 3, 1993) was a Polish American medical researcher, best known for developing the oral polio vaccine which has played a key role in nearly eradicating the disease. Sabin was born in Białystok, Poland, then part of the Russian Empire, to Polish-Jewish parents, Jacob Saperstein and Tillie Krugman. In 1921, he emigrated with his family as "Abram Saperstejn" on the S/S "Lapland" which sailed from Antwerp, Belgium, to the Port of New York. In 1930, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States and changed his name
Polio vaccine testing outside the United States, Sabin in Mexico and then in the Soviet Union, and Koprowski in the Congo and Poland. In 1957, Sabin developed a trivalent vaccine, containing attenuated strains of all three types of poliovirus. In 1959, ten million children in the Soviet Union received the Sabin oral vaccine. For this work, Sabin was given the medal of the Order of Friendship Among Peoples, described as the Soviets' highest civilian honor, despite having become an American during the height of the cold war. Sabin's oral vaccine using live virus came into commercial use in 1961. Once Sabin’s oral