This day in 1954 was a part of my childhood.  There was a terrifying polio epidemic going on.  Imagine being a parent with little kids and worried that they might be infected with crippling and incurable polio, that they may never walk again, and that they might even die.  And then this.

THE SALK POLIO VACCINE TRIALS:

"The Great Public Health Experiment in American History."

A nationwide trial of an experimental vaccine using school children as virtual guinea pigs would be unthinkable in the United States today.

But that's exactly what happened in 1954 when frantic American parents -- looking for anything that could beat back the horror of polio -- offered up more than 1.8 million children to serve as test subjects. They included 600,000 kids who would be injected with either a new polio vaccine or a placebo.

Equally remarkable, the Salk polio vaccine trial stands as the largest peacetime mobilization of volunteers in American history, requiring the efforts of 325,000 doctors, nurses, educators and private citizens -- with no money from federal grants or pharmaceutical companies. The results were tracked by volunteers using pencils and paper.

And it lasted just one year, with officials hopeful at the outset that they would be able to begin giving the vaccine to children within weeks of the final results. . . 

"That's what makes it the greatest public health experiment in history," said David Oshinsky, who wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Polio: An American Story. "It's not just the success of the trials. It's the incredible organization involved, with tens of thousands of mothers and families coming together to save their children. And it was all done privately. That's what makes this so incredible."

There was enormous pressure to get the field trial under way in advance of the 1954 polio season. Polio epidemics took place during the summer, with the number of cases rising through June and July and peaking in August. . . 

"We realized we wanted to get it accomplished in 1954, early enough that it could possibly have an impact on that year's polio season," said David Rose, archivist for the March of Dimes.

A grass-roots movement without precedent

The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis already had a nationwide network of health officials, medical professionals, elementary educators and volunteers in place to help respond to polio outbreaks. These were the same people who would form the workforce needed for the clinical trial. In addition, the foundation's annual "Mother's March" raised millions in dimes and dollars each year, which was used for polio research and aid to communities enduring polio epidemics. . .

Legions of proud 'Polio Pioneers'

Between April 26 and July 10, 1954, volunteers distributed Salk's series of three polio shots. In all, more than 443,000 children received at least one polio inoculation, while more than 210,000 received a placebo, according to the March of Dimes.

"There were three shots and it was a double-blind study," Oshinsky said. "Neither the child nor the caregiver knew who was receiving the vaccine or a placebo, so the paperwork was enormous."

All the kids in the trials became known as the "Polio Pioneers," and each received what would become a much-treasured Polio Pioneer metal pin and certificate of membership signed by O'Connor himself. . .

Researchers spent the rest of 1954 following the health of all the children, and taking blood samples from 40,000 kids in the study to examine their antibody response.

Through three months of winter and the early spring of 1955, the researchers analyzed and evaluated the data gathered on inoculation, blood samples, and resulting cases of polio. Much of the work was done by hand, although some computations were performed using punch cards that were fed into a primitive computer the size of a room, Oshinsky said.

People were on pins and needles waiting for the results of the trial. Even Salk himself knew nothing about how the analysis was proceeding, his son said.

'An instant hero'

Then, just one year after the trial started, the National Foundation announced the results: The Salk vaccine proved 80 to 90 percent effective in preventing polio.

"The vaccine works. It is safe, effective and potent," stated the press release issued by the National Foundation on Tuesday, April 12, 1955. It concluded, "There can be no doubt now that children can be inoculated successfully against polio."

The New York Times blared the news with a banner headline: "SALK POLIO VACCINE PROVES SUCCESS; MILLIONS WILL BE IMMUNIZED SOON; CITY SCHOOLS BEGIN SHOTS APRIL 25."

"Salk became sort of an instant hero," said Muhlenberg College's Wilson. "He appeared on the cover of Time magazine. He really was celebrated. [President Dwight] Eisenhower entertained him at the White House." 

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