The Man who Saved America s Children

The Man who Saved America s Children Caleb Hovis Junior Division Historical Paper 2,489 Words 1

From the 1910 s to the 1950 s the poliovirus was treated like the earlier smallpox disease in America. The smallpox virus killed millions throughout the world, but in 1979 it was eradicated. The poliovirus was not as deadly, but was just as much feared as smallpox, because of the paralysis polio inflicted on humans. However, by experimenting with cowpox, Edward Jenner made a vaccination for smallpox using cowpox, and proved that the vaccine worked. 1 The results were published in 1853. One century later, in the 1950 s, the worst outbreak of poliovirus occurred, and the people in America did not have the lifesaving cowpox for their poliovirus. They needed a person who could create a vaccine using the original virus because there was no cowpox for polio. Jonas Salk took the common encounter and exchange of polio in America and created the first working polio vaccine. Salk, and many other scientists, explored through the fields of medicine. On February 23, 1954 the biggest experiment ever done in the field of medicine was conducted. Salk then proved the vaccine worked and distributed all of the vaccines out into America, and later, the world. Before that could happen though, millions of people were threatened from the virus, and thousands died. Jonas Salk was born on October 28, 1914 and when he was just two, the country was attacked by the poliovirus. By 1916, there were 27,000 cases and 6,000 deaths. And the epidemic continued to worsen: in 1952 there were 57,628 cases reported. 2 The poliovirus attacked the nervous system, which, in extreme cases, will lead to paralysis and death. The poliovirus in America continued to worsen every year, and the worst epidemics occurred in the 1950 s. There were polio epidemics all the time. You 1 Be doye re, Guy De La. The First Polio Vaccine. Milwaukee, WI: World Almanac Library, 2006. Print. Pg. 10 2 Parkinson, Hilary. "Prologue: Pieces of History."» The Dimes That Saved Lives. Mary Ryan, 12 Apr. 2011. Web. 13 Jan. 2016. 2

wouldn t go out and play. You wouldn t go to a county fair, wouldn t go to a public location. 3 The people who lived there were scared, in every way. They encountered the virus and many children became paralyzed or even died from the virus. The poliovirus mostly attacked children, and everywhere throughout America parents worried when the next epidemic would occur. None of the scientists knew how to stop the virus, but they knew how the virus entered the body and created paralysis. The virus enters through the throat, and travels down to the stomach, and in some cases, the virus gets into the bloodstream and attacks the nervous system. The virus kills the motor neuron cells, which control the muscles for the throat, trunk, respiratory system, and the legs and arms. 4 Paralysis only occurs in these worst cases, when the polio attacks the nervous system. Usually the virus doesn t enter the bloodstream, but leaves the body through the intestines. This process creates cold like symptoms, and mild diarrhea. 5 The poliovirus rarely causes paralysis, and the virus usually is not that harmful, unless it reaches the bloodstream. When paralysis occurs, the patient starts to get weak in their legs, and they have a moderate fever for a couple of days. Then, from the chest down, all of the muscles become weak, and it is hard to move or stand, especially from the hips down. Every muscle is extremely sensitive to touch. After that, the patient would be paralyzed from the hips down. The paralysis and the polio will spread, until it kills the patient. The only way for the victim to survive is to 3 Ben Wechsler, a boy in one of the epidemics, a Pennsylvania schoolboy in Be doye re, Guy De La. The First Polio Vaccine. Milwaukee, WI: World Almanac Library, 2006. Print 4 Smithsonian National Museum of American History. "NMAH Polio: How the Poliovirus Works." NMAH Polio: How the Poliovirus Works. Smithsonian National Museum of American History, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. 5 Tocci, Salvatore. Jonas Salk: Creator of the Polio Vaccine. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2002. Print. Pg. 12 3

go to a specialized polio hospital immediately to be treated. 6 Polio affected and occurred all over America and it could attack anyone. Eventually, it would attack Franklin D. Roosevelt, a future president. One of the most famous victims from polio occurred in 1921 when President Roosevelt got polio. It was truly devastating, but as devastating as it was, Franklin s illness proved a blessing in disguise, for it gave him strength and courage he had not had before. He had to think out the fundamentals of living and learn the greatest of all lessons-infinite patience and never-ending persistence. 7 Because of his disease, Franklin decided to make a stand against polio and in 1938 he created the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (polio). 8 This fundraiser was known as the March of Dimes campaign. Overall, the campaign earned $18.9 million dollars by the time of Roosevelt's death in 1945. Franklin urged people to empty their pockets and donate their spare change for the cause. The money that was earned from the fundraiser was given to scientists to create a vaccine. Eventually that money would be given to Salk so he could explore through medicine, and encounter the virus once he created his vaccine. In 1948, Salk started to work on a vaccine for polio; he was introduced to the idea from Dr. Harry Weaver, who was the director for the National Foundation for 6 Roosevelt, Franklin D. "Transcript of Letter from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Dr. Egleston Regarding His Polio Attack." National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. 7 Eleanor Roosevelt, from her autobiography, quotes in Berish, Amy. "Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum." Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. 8 Parkinson, Hilary. "Prologue: Pieces of History."» The Dimes That Saved Lives. Mary Ryan, 12 Apr. 2011. Web. 13 Jan. 2016. 4

Infantile Paralysis. 9 Immediately, Salk started to explore through the realms of medicine, and into the world of science. He used the information gathered through previously failed experiments, in which the attempted vaccines accidently parallelized and killed some children with the poliovirus. Salk began working diligently. In the beginning, Salk had to use monkeys to do his experiments, 10 because monkeys are the only living things besides humans that can develop polio. 11 At that time, scientists had discovered three different types of polio; type I, II, and III. To create his vaccine, Salk would have to encounter the virus by injecting monkeys with polio I. If the monkey survived the first injection he would inject a different unknown strain of polio. 12 As long as the monkey didn t get polio from the second strain, the second strain was polio I, or type I. This means that the immune system in the monkey identified the polio strain and recognized it from the earlier injection and quickly destroyed the virus, the monkey would not become ill. 13 If the monkey did get polio from the second injection, then the second strain was another type of polio besides type I. 14 The immune system would not be able to destroy the virus and the monkey would quickly get polio. Salk had to do even more tests to determine if the virus was type II, or III, or even a different type of polio altogether. 15 To create the vaccine, Salk would have to encounter the virus through monkeys and create a vaccine using the information he gathered through his experiments. 9 Tocci, Salvatore. Jonas Salk: Creator of the Polio Vaccine. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2002. Print. Pg. 47 10 Ibid. pg. 55 11 Ibid. pg. 55 12 Ibid. pg. 55 13 Ibid. pg. 56 14 Ibid. pg. 56 15 Ibid. pg. 56 5

Salk s experimentation was very tedious; he sometimes had to wait for months to discover the results from the monkeys. In total, Salk used about 17,000 monkeys for his experiments. If a monkey died from something other than polio, he would have to start all over. 16 This complication made Salk s exploration very hard, but he persevered through it, and still tried to find a cure for polio. Jonas Salk s work became much easier when scientists at Harvard discovered another way to test the virus. 17 These scientists discovered that a virus can be grown in laboratory glassware containing cells and nutrients called a tissue culture, and is by far quicker than using monkeys. 18 By the time the tissue culture was discovered and used, Salk and his two other teams had already taken three years to place all of their discovered strains into the three groupings; strain I, II, and III. 19 The remaining experiments would now go much faster with the new science. Salk could now encounter the virus much quicker by using the tissue cultures; he could explore more methods to defeat the poliovirus. In 1951, Jonas Salk distinguished three different types of poliovirus using monkeys and the tissue cultures. He now needed to create a vaccine that would immunize a person from all three different types. Salk needed to actually encounter the virus in a human to see if there even was a way to create a vaccine against polio. His plan was to develop a vaccine using killed polio viruses. 20 He realized that although some polioviruses are much weaker than others, they all encourage the body to make 16 Tocci, Salvatore. Jonas Salk: Creator of the Polio Vaccine. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2002. Print pg. 58 17 Ibid. pg. 58 18 Ibid pg. 58 19 Ibid pg. 58 20 Ibid pg. 60 6

similar numbers of antibodies. 21 With this discovery, Salk knew he could create a vaccine using dead viruses. However, many questions still remained, especially how much formalin, which was the chemical they used to kill the viruses, was necessary to use in the vaccine. The vaccine still needed to allow the body to create the necessary antibodies to kill all three strains of the poliovirus. 22 In 1952, Salk and his researchers figured out the exact amount of formalin to use. He had finally done enough exploring through the realms of medicine, now he needed to encounter the virus in humans, and start experimenting on humans. In the summer of 1952, Salk decided to test his vaccine on children who already had polio. He gathered blood samples, and calculated how many antibodies the children had. The tests would determine if the vaccine created more antibodies in the blood and if it could protect the children from polio. 23 In the end, his experiment was a success, but he knew it wasn t enough to prove that the vaccine worked. Salk had to do an enormous experiment; he had to test thousands of children for his vaccine to be proven that it was safe for children. However he had to do more, not to just explore through the world of science, but encounter and defeat the deadly disease. Before he completed such a colossal experiment, he had to do small experiments like the one before; testing children who already had antibodies against polio in their blood so he could be sure the vaccine worked before testing children who had no immunity at all. The great experiment occurred on February 23, 1954, and the results were announced on April 12, 1955. The news that began to pour out over the radio in the 21 Be doye re, Guy De La. The First Polio Vaccine. Milwaukee, WI: World Almanac Library, 2006. Print. Pg. 28 22 Ibid. pg. 28 23 Tocci, Salvatore. Jonas Salk: Creator of the Polio Vaccine. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2002. Print Page 71 7

gym on April 12, 1955, the tenth anniversary of Roosevelt s death, was news only in detail. That the field trials of the Salk vaccine would prove in some measure successful had been anticipated. 24 On February 23, 1954 Salk and his team started to test and give the vaccination to a whopping 1,829,916 children. He did this to prove the vaccine was safe and to gain permission to exchange the polio vaccine around the country, and, eventually, the world. The purpose of the experiment was to prove that the polio vaccine was safe to manufacture and sell to hospitals and doctors. 25 When Salk made the notice for the experiment people came rushing trying to get their children enrolled into the experiment. Parents were scared of the virus; they wanted their children to get the vaccine regardless of the risk. The result of the experiment was a total of 1013 cases of polio developed during the study period and were reported to the Center. 26 This means that Only 0.4 percent of the vaccinated children suffered minor reactions [And] an even smaller percent (0.004-0.006) suffered so-called "major reactions." 27 The reason for any of the major reactions was that the vaccine contained a live virus, and the live virus was not properly killed. All of the children that contracted polio from the experiment got their vaccine shipped from the same place. That company did not kill the viruses correctly resulting in the major reactions. 28 After the children got polio, the subcommittee of researchers, public health officials, and the government made new laws ensuring that another incident like that would never happen again. The subcommittee lengthened the amount 24 Edward LeComte, 1957 Smithsonian National Museum of American History. "NMAH Polio: Clinical Trials." NMAH Polio: Clinical Trials. Smithsonian National Museum of American History, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. 25 Francis, Thomas. ""Polio Vaccine Evaluation Results" EText - Primary Source - ENotes.com." Enotes.com. Enotes.com, 2 June 2009. Web. 13 Jan. 2016. 26 Ibid. 27 Ibid. 28 "History of Polio." History of Vaccines RSS. The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. 8

of time the virus had to be exposed to the formalin so that there could be no chance of a virus still being alive and infecting the vaccinated person. Future vaccines had to use filters that could take out live viruses from the vaccine. Finally, they made a law saying any vaccination from a small tube ready to be inoculated, needs to be tested again. This test makes sure the viruses are dead. 29 With the new laws in place protecting children, the exchange and distribution of the vaccine was started. In 1956, the amount of polio cases that occurred that year was 15,140. While there were 57,628 cases reported in 1952. In 1957 the incidence of polio in the United States had dropped by 90 percent. 30 That means, there were only about 1,514 cases in America in 1957, and by 1969 not a single death from polio was reported in the nation. 31 Polio was conquered in 1969 by Jonas Salk, but the very last case of polio ever in the United States was in 1979 32. On August 20, 1994, polio was eradicated in the Americas. The reason why the vaccine worked so well, even though the virus was dead, was because, [there] is a reasonable hope that, as in diphtheria, natural exposure to poliomyelitis [polio] viruses will continue to reinforce the immunity induced by the vaccine. 33 Jonas explored, encountered, exchanged, and finally defeated the polio virus in the Americas by 1994. All that is left is vaccinating the world. 29 Ibid. And Tocci, Salvatore. Jonas Salk: Creator of the Polio Vaccine. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2002. Print. pg. 90 and 91 30 Parkinson, Hilary. "Prologue: Pieces of History."» The Dimes That Saved Lives. Mary Ryan, 12 Apr. 2011. Web. 13 Jan. 2016. 31 Schmeck Jr, Harold M. "Dr. Jonas Salk, Whose Vaccine Turned Tide on Polio, Dies at 80." On This Day. The New York Times, 24 June 1995. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. 32 Be doye re, Guy De La. The First Polio Vaccine. Milwaukee, WI: World Almanac Library, 2006. Print pg. 38 33 Says Dr. C. Workmen in Salk Vaccine Promises Life-Time Immunity Ann Arbor News, April 13, 1955 in "Thomas Francis Jr." Thomas Francis Jr. Ann Arbor News, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. 9

Jonas Salk created the polio vaccine using dead viruses, but some scientists disagreed with his thinking; they thought that a dead virus would not be strong enough to create immunization in the body. One of the greatest doubters of Salk was Dr. Albert Sabin. Sabin thought only a weakened form of a virus could provide full immunity to the person, and that person could not spread the disease, unlike Salk s vaccine. 34 Sabin created his vaccine with a living but weakened poliovirus which was licensed in the United States in 1962. However there were many downsides of Sabin s vaccine; 35 if the vaccinated person is sick, and isn t healthy enough to create their own antibodies, a doctor himself could get the vaccine and transfer the virus to other people who have no immunity. This usually happens in developing countries where there are many other viruses in the victims gut. In such countries a vaccinated person can get the virus because the antibodies are not made quick enough. 36 Nevertheless, slowly, the Sabin vaccine became more used in America, because it was easier and less expensive to make. It could be taken by mouth in a liquid dropped on a sugar cube. It provided a stronger, longer lasting immunity. 37 These reasons made America switch from using Salk s vaccine, to Sabin s, even though Sabin s vaccine had some risks. Despite what happened to Jonas Salk s vaccine, Jonas Salk is known as the man who conquered polio. He was the first person to create the polio vaccine and was the man who explored through the fields of medicine, encountered the virus while trying to make the vaccine, and exchanged the vaccine all over the world. Salk saved millions of lives with the polio vaccine, and still some countries use Salk s vaccine instead of 34 Be doye re, Guy De La. The First Polio Vaccine. Milwaukee, WI: World Almanac Library, 2006. Print pg. 36 and 37 35 Ibid. pg. 36 and 37 36 Ibid. pg. 36 and 37 37 Tocci, Salvatore. Jonas Salk: Creator of the Polio Vaccine. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2002. Print. pg. 93 10

Sabin s today, because of the threats that the live virus has. Ironically, part of the reason why polio isn t fully eradicated from the world is because a couple people a year still contract the virus from Sabin s live vaccine, because of this, Salk s vaccine is starting to gain more popularity today. 38 38 Be doye re, Guy De La. The First Polio Vaccine. Milwaukee, WI: World Almanac Library, 2006. Print pg. 40 11

Primary Sources Annotated Bibliography "Eisenhower Presidential Library." Eisenhower Presidential Library. Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. Eisenhower Presidential Library is a website that contains hundreds, maybe thousands of government records. I used a couple of these in my paper, and it also helped me learn more about polio, and the epidemics caused from the virus. Francis, Thomas. ""Polio Vaccine Evaluation Results" EText - Primary Source - ENotes.com." Enotes.com. Enotes.com, 2 June 2009. Web. 13 Jan. 2016. One of the most useful primary source articles, this article, is by the same man who wrote the scientifically wordy document for the results to the great experiment. The article sums up what he wrote in that document and wrote this one, a summary of his original. The document has a picture of Jonas giving the vaccine to David Rosenbloom. It also helped me write the results of Salk s experiment. "Government Documents as Primary Sources: 1950-1959." 1950-1959. Libraries University of Missouri, 6 Jan. 2016. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. The college Missouri s Library has some government documents and websites that lead to other primary sources. I was able to get a couple additional websites and articles by this website. It helped me 12

understand the operation of the vaccine experiment and helped me understand how the experiment was done. "Jonas Salk..." - RareNewspapers.com. Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newpapers, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. This website has a couple of rare newspapers during the polio epidemics, and during the time the vaccine is made. These newspapers gave me valuable information about how scared the people were of the virus. I used it to craft my paper to show that the people really were scared of the virus. It didn t only affect infants and children, it also affected adults. (n.d.): n. pag. Charts and Graphs with Figures on Polio in the United States. Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. This is a website that conation s a couple of graphs that shows the countries polio cases. It has graphs of the years 1911-1956 and has even more specific graphs, for the years 1953 and 54. The graph shows where the country was hit with the hardest polio epidemics. The website also has one or two graphs about the whole world's cases of polio. It gave me more statistics about the epidemics, and the graphs showed me that the whole country was hit, not just certain cities. 13

Parkinson, Hilary. "Prologue: Pieces of History."» The Dimes That Saved Lives. Mary Ryan, 12 Apr. 2011. Web. 13 Jan. 2016. This is a very helpful document about the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis campaign, and how it was started. I mostly used this document when I was writing The March of Dimes part of my paper. It also has some statistics about cases of polio and deaths. It also has a picture of one of the birthday cakes Franklin Roosevelt used for fundraising polio. Rabb, Maxwell M. (n.d.): n. pag. The Salk Vaccine. Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home. Web. 2016. This primary source is a document about the number of people (at that time) who were so far immunized. It gives statistics about the cases of polio in previous years, and how the government plans to vaccinate the public. The source helped me understand how hospitals and the government were going to distribute the vaccine. "Records of the National Institutes of Health [NIH]." National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. This is the national archives. I was able to find a letter from Franklin D. Roosevelt about what happened to him when he got polio. It is very informational and I learned a lot about what the victims of polio had 14

to go through in the hospitals. The president also explained how it felt to have polio. Roosevelt, Franklin D. "Transcript of Letter from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Dr. Egleston Regarding His Polio Attack." National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. This is the letter that is from the national archives. It is to Dr. Egleston, whose daughter contracted polio, and he is asking what he should do. At the time the letter was written, the president has had polio for a couple of months. It gives information about what it is like to go through polio, and what the doctors did to the president, once he was in the hospital. "Search Truman Library Archives." Search Truman Library Archives. Harry S. Truman Library & Museum, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. The website has tons of pictures and important documents about the polio vaccine and epidemics. It shows how truly frightened fathers and mothers were during these polio epidemics. It helped me understand how deadly polio is. The Security of Health, Education, and Welfare on Distribution of Salk Vaccine. (n.d.): n. pag. Supplement Report to the President. Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. 15

This is a very important primary source; it describes the distribution of the vaccine. It helped me understand the exchange of the vaccine to the world. It also gives specific, detailed tables of the whole United States and how much vaccines each state had. "Thomas Francis Jr." Thomas Francis Jr. Ann Arbor News, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. This is a very helpful and important website that has hundreds of photos and newspapers about the results of Jonas Salk s experiment. Thomas Francis, a close friend to Jonas, is the person who wrote and announced the results of the experiment to America. The newspapers and photos are all about that event and significantly helped me with my paper. I also used a couple of quotes from the newspapers, and the photographs helped me imagine what the event was like. 16

Secondary Sources Be doye re, Guy De La. The First Polio Vaccine. Milwaukee, WI: World Almanac Library, 2006. Print. The book The First Polio vaccine was critical for my research. It is used in my introduction, to explain how smallpox affected the world. It is also used in the paper when it described Sabin. The book is about how Jonas created the vaccine, and how he vaccinated the United States and the world. It also gave some information about the epidemics. Berish, Amy. "Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum." Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. This article helped me understand more about The March of Dimes campaign. I also used a quote that was from Eleanor Roosevelt, it was quoted from the website, and from the website to her autobiography. The quote helped start my introduction to The March of Dimes campaign, which tremendously helped Jonas Salk create his vaccine. "History of Polio." History of Vaccines RSS. The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. One of my most important secondary sources. The article is a timeline of all the events for polio. It starts in 1894 and ends in 2014. In almost every single event there is a primary source picture, and there is always a couple 17

paragraphs of information for the event. The article helped me understand the time of each event that took place and gave me much needed information for the paper. "Jonas Salk 1914-1995." PBS. PBS, 1998. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. This article from PBS summarized most of the information about Jonas Salk and his vaccine. It helped me to fit all of the information I know into a less than 25 hundred word paper, and it helped me realize what information I needed in the paper, and what I could leave out. It also has a primary source of a colored picture of Jonas Salk in the article. Markel, Howard, and M. D. "When Polio, Every Parent's Nightmare, Fell to Dr. Salk." When Polio, Every Parent's Nightmare, Fell to Dr. Salk. New York Times, 12 Apr. 2005. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. One of my first secondary sources, the article helped me learn more about the statistics, and how unlikely and rare, for someone to contract polio, and become paralyzed. It showed me how devastating polio was to those who got it. "Polio." - Early History, Epidemics, The Medical Response. RFC, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. Another article that showed and helped me understand the history of polio. The article also is about the history about polio, but instead, it goes back to ancient Egypt, not just to the 20th century. It also gave me information about why suddenly polio became such a sudden threat. It was because of 18

how sanitation began to increase, and polio started affecting children, instead of newborns and infants. The article also gave information about the epidemics that occurred, and how scientists responded to the virus. "Polio." KidsHealth - the Web's Most Visited Site about Children's Health. Ed. Nicole A. Green. The Nemours Foundation, 01 Jan. 2014. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. The website explained the symptoms that occur during polio, it supported all of the earlier information I got, and it explained the deadliness of polio to children. It also explained how humans get the virus, and it proves why the virus suddenly became such a devastating disease. "Salk Produces Polio Vaccine 1952." PBS. PBS, 1998. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. An article from PBS that helped me summarize my information about the exchange process of the vaccine. It also has a primary source picture of a girl getting the vaccine from Jonas Salk. Schmeck Jr, Harold M. "Dr. Jonas Salk, Whose Vaccine Turned Tide on Polio, Dies at 80." On This Day. The New York Times, 24 June 1995. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. One of my most informational secondary sources, the article mostly explained about the distribution of the vaccine. It gave me the most information on that part of the topic, and helped me understand about how and where the Salk vaccine was exchanged to. 19

Smithsonian National Museum of American History. "NMAH Polio: Clinical Trials." NMAH Polio: Clinical Trials. Smithsonian National Museum of American History, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. This article from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History was one of the most helpful secondary sources I found. It has a couple quotes from primary sources, one I used, and it has information about the 1.8 million children that were tested. It also has three primary source pictures, one is a picture of a boy getting the vaccine. The two others are photographs of the certificate that each kid got, and the Polio Pioneer pin that each child got after being tested. Smithsonian National Museum of American History. "NMAH Polio: How the Poliovirus Works." NMAH Polio: How the Poliovirus Works. Smithsonian National Museum of American History, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. Another article from that website explains how the virus attacks the nervous system, and creates paralysis. It also gave me information about why, compared to other deadly viruses, there are so few cases of paralysis. Smithsonian National Museum of American History. "NMAH Polio: Two Vaccines." NMAH Polio: Two Vaccines. Smithsonian National Museum of American History, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. In addition to the other two articles on polio from that site, there is another about the Sabin vaccine. There are three different photographs of Sabin giving his oral vaccine, to a family, a young girl, and a picture of Sabin and Dr. 20

Victor Zhdanov. It gave me information about the two different scientists, for their two different vaccines. It also gave me information about Dr. Sabin. Thompson, Dennis. "The Salk Polio Vaccine: "Greatest Public Health Experiment in History"" CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 2 Dec. 2014. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. This important article is specifically about the experiment done on the 1.8 million children. It has two primary source pictures, one, a common picture of a row of children lined up to get their shot. The other picture is of a girl about ready to get the shot. These images helped me visualize the experiment that tested 1.8 million children, and how hard, and money consuming it would be. It also helped me understand how badly America wanted immunization from polio. Tocci, Salvatore. Jonas Salk: Creator of the Polio Vaccine. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2002. Print. By far this is my most valuable secondary source. It is a whole biography about Jonas Salk s life, and starts with an introduction about a girl who suddenly got polio. I mostly used it to get information about how Jonas Salk created his vaccine, but it gave me a lot more information than just that. There are tons of primary source photographs in the book, such as the iron lung, a girl screaming when she was soaked in an extremely hot bath and a girl on crutches in a poster for the March of Dimes. 21

"What Is Formalin?" WiseGEEK. Wise Geek, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. This short article gave me information on the chemical formalin, the chemical Jonas gave the virus to kill it. It helped me understand the long process of creating the vaccines, and how expensive they were. "World Health Organization Declares Smallpox Eradicated 1980." PBS. PBS, 1998. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. Only used in my introduction, my final secondary source, from PBS. It helped me understand the eradication of smallpox. It gave me some statistics, and some information about that virus for my introduction. 22