Polio Vaccines

There are two vaccines used throughout the world in the fight against poliomyelitis, commonly known as polio. The first polio vaccine invented by Jonas Salk was first tested on humans in 1952 and announced to the world in 1955. This vaccine contains an inactive form of the poliovirus and is administered by injection. The second polio vaccine is taken orally. It contains an attenuated, or weakened, form of the poliovirus developed by Albert Sabin and licensed in 1962. This live-virus vaccine is most actively used for the following reasons:

1. Due to the live state of the virus, it has the ability to spread to other individuals whom have not been vaccinated. This spread allows the remote body to build immunity to the virus.

2. The oral vaccine creates immunity in the central system through the stomach which reduces the spread of the virus. If administered directly into the bloodstream it will immunize the individual, but will not reduce the ability to spread the virus.

3. Sabin’s live vaccine is cheaper to create than Salk’s alternative version containing the dead virus. Cost effectiveness is most important in today’s times, especially in healthcare.

4. Oral vaccines are easier to widely administer to the general population. Patients are more likely to complete the series of oral vaccinations necessary to attain full immunity opposed to the injected vaccine.

The dead virus vaccination was able to eradicate polio from most of the world’s nations. However, it was the live virus vaccine that completely eliminated the spread of polio in the United States. Sabin’s version is now the standard treatment for polio vaccinations.