1953

First inactivated polio vaccine created by Dr. Jonas Salk

The first inactivated polio vaccine (known as IPV) was created by Dr. Jonas Salk. Inactivated vaccines mean they are using the killed version of the virus. Human trials began in 1954, and by 1955 Salk’s vaccine was available throughout the US. The incidence of paralytic polio decreased dramatically between 1954 and 1961. However, the antibodies wore off within a few years of this iteration of the vaccine and creation of the vaccine had led to the sacrifice of many monkeys (they needed monkey kidney cells to propagate the virus). The Henrietta Lacks cell line (HeLa cell) at Tuskegee University soon became the cell of choice for measuring the quantity of antibody developed in response to poliovirus infection, replacing the rhesus monkey cells, in the evaluation of the Salk polio vaccine.