Encore: The Polio Vaccine | The Fight Goes On | 3

American Innovations

Wondery

Steven Johnson, History, Kids & Family, Education For Kids, Science

4.6 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 25 June 2020

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1955, the world received its first viable polio vaccine, courtesy of Jonas Salk. He was hailed as a hero until kids started to fall sick with polio. A bad batch of vaccines was thought to be the culprit. But it was also an opening for a scientist with a competing vision. Albert Sabin warned of the dangers of Salk’s vaccine from the start. The final clash between the two vaccines, and the two scientists, is the true story of how polio was conquered.

Note: This episode originally ran in October 2018.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to American innovations
0:03.6	and free on Amazon Music.
0:05.6	Download the app today.
0:07.8	Hi, a listener note.
0:09.3	A scientist race to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus,
0:12.8	we're bringing back our 2018 series
0:15.4	about the race to cure polio.
0:17.6	We hope you find it as relevant and ultimately
0:20.7	as hopeful as we do.
0:23.2	It's late at night on April 26, 1955.
0:34.8	But in an office in Washington, DC, agitated scientists
0:38.7	are still hard at work.
0:40.8	The room is cloudy with cigarette smoke.
0:43.8	No one seems to notice when the clock ticks past midnight.
0:47.5	If the researchers in this room can't figure out some answers,
0:51.1	thousands of lives are potentially at risk.
0:54.7	Hey, here's another one from Chicago.
0:56.8	Polio-free infant gets sock vaccine a few days later.
1:00.8	He's in the hospital with paralysis in both legs and one arm.
1:04.2	We've got similar stories all over the country.
1:07.2	It's San Diego, two seven-year-olds.
1:09.6	Got their shots at school.
	...

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