Mikhail Chumakov Mikhail Chumakov Mikhail Petrovich Chumakov () (November 14, 1909 – June 11, 1993) was a Soviet microbiologist and virologist most famous for conducting pivotal large-scale clinical trials that led to licensing of the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) developed by Albert B. Sabin. Chumakov graduated in 1931 from Moscow State University Medical School that was later transformed into I.M. Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy. In 1937 Chumakov participated in a scientific expedition to Khabarovsk region of Soviet Far East that was led by Professor . Together with his colleagues he discovered the etiology of a new transmissible neurological disease called tick-borne encephalitis
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