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
Samuel Katz (pediatrician) the Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal awarded by the Sabin Vaccine Institute for his contributions to vaccine discoveries during his career. Samuel Katz (pediatrician) Samuel L. Katz (born 1927) is an American pediatrician and virologist whose career has been devoted to infectious disease research, focusing principally on vaccine research and development. Katz is currently the Wilburt Cornell Davison Professor and Chairman Emeritus of Pediatrics at Duke University. October 15, 1958 the first Measles Vaccine is tested in a Boston lab. The first version of the lab’s vaccine on mentally retarded and disabled children at a school outside of Boston. He