Dr. Jonas Salk Polio Vaccine
Polio in the 1950’s has American parents in fear and anxiety due to thousands of children were become infected with a crippling disease Poliomyelitis (polio). Polio is a disease caused by infections of the poliovirus, which can affect nerves and can leads to a partial or full paralysis. It is an inflammation of the spinal cord’s gray matter and can sometimes extend into the brainstem. Now thanks to Dr. Salk most children in the U.S get this Polio Vaccine along with many other vaccination shots as children to prevent this from procuring.
In New York City in 1914 Russian-Jewish immigrant couples were happy to be blessed with a happy healthy boy names Jonas Salk. His parents had little educational background but they were determined to make sure that there kids succeed and do well. Dr. Salk was the first one in his family to go to college his plan was to go into law but then switched to medical science. While at New York University Dr. Salk was invited to spend a year researching influenza’s. Dr. Salk joined his mentor Dr. Thomas Francis, as a research fellow at the University of Michigan. There, he worked to develop an influenza vaccine In 1947 was appointed to the University of Pittsburgh Medical School and saw a golden opportunity to develop a vaccine against polio and devoted his work to it for the next 8years.
In 1948 Dr. Salk took the techniques that he had learned from the past with working with influenzas and the “principle of vaccinations that if the bod is artificially exposed to a harmless form of the disease virus, the body will produce antibodies that resist or kill dangerous form of the virus if later exposed. ("History of Jonas Salk." Salk Institute - About Salk - History of Salk - About Jonas Salk. Salk Institute for Biological Studies).” Most of the support he got was from National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis and later became known as the March of Dimes. The founder of