Cold War tensions and the polio vaccine Cold War tensions and the polio vaccine Polio (Infantile paralysis or poliomyelitis) epidemics were a concern during the summer months for children globally, with records of polio from the Egyptians and Greeks to the 1950s epidemics. In the summer of 1921, this epidemic became notorious when Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Democratic contender for the vice presidency, was struck down by polio at the age of 39. Two U.S. virologists, Jonas Salk of the University of Pittsburgh and Albert B. Sabin of the University of Cincinnati emerged as the most prominent among dozens of American researchers on the quest for a
Alvah Sabin Alvah Sabin Alvah Sabin (October 23, 1793 – January 22, 1885) was an American politician and clergyman. He served as a United States Representative from Vermont. Sabin was born in Georgia, Vermont to Benjamin Sabin and Polly McMaster Sabin, and was educated in the common schools. He was also a member of the Vermont militia and served during the War of 1812. Sabin also attended the University of Vermont in Burlington, which awarded him the honorary degree of master of arts in 1826. After the war, Sabin studied theology in Philadelphia and graduated from Columbian College (now George Washington University),