On February 23, 1954, a group of children from Arsenal
Elementary School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, received
the first injections of the new polio vaccine developed by
Dr. Jonas Salk.

Thanks to the vaccine, by the 21st century polio cases
were reduced by 99 percent worldwide.

Though not as devastating as the plague or influenza,
poliomyelitis was a highly contagious disease that
emerged in terrifying outbreaks and seemed impossible
to stop.

The most famous victim of a 1921 outbreak in America
was future President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, then a
young politician. The disease spread quickly, leaving
his legs permanently paralyzed.

Jonas Edward Salk (October 28, 1914 – June 23, 1995)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was diagnosed with polio at age
39 in 1921 after falling ill while vacationing at Campobello Island,
Canada.

The illness resulted in permanent paralysis from the waist down,
though some medical experts now suggest his symptoms were
more consistent with Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Despite the crippling effects of the disease, Roosevelt used his
experience to create the Warm Springs Foundation to help 
others with polio.      

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s wheelchair on display at the New
York State Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (2016). Roosevelt used
this wheelchair at the Executive Mansion during his term
as governor from 1928 to 1932.

  
MIKE CRACIA

On March 26, 1953, American medical researcher Dr. Jonas
Salk announced on a national radio program that he has
successfully tested a vaccine against poliomyelitis, the
virus that causes the crippling disease of polio.

In 1952—an epidemic year for polio—there were 58,000 new
cases reported in the United States, and more than 3,000
died from the disease.

For his work in helping to eradicate the disease, which is
known as “infant paralysis” because it mainly affects young
children, Dr. Salk was celebrated as the great doctor-
benefactor of his time.

On February 23, 1954, a group of children from Arsenal
Elementary School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, received
the first injections of the new polio vaccine developed by
Dr. Jonas Salk. Thanks to the vaccine, by the 21st century
polio cases were reduced by 99 percent worldwide.

According to the World Health Organization, polio cases
have been reduced by 99 percent and survives only among
the world’s poorest and most marginalized communities.

Dr. Jonas Salk, the scientist who created the polio vaccine, administers an injection to an unidentified boy at Arsenal Elementary School in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1954.