Today In History: March 26 1953

Virologist Jonas Salk announces to the public his progress to find a vaccine against polio

On March 26, 1953 at 10:45 in the evening on a CBS radio broadcast for the United States, Dr. Jonas Salk talked to a country that listened to him expectantly. In recent weeks the press had picked up optimistic news on the development of his research to develop a polio vaccine. Salk, alarmed at expectations, decided to go to the media directly to clarify the status of his investigations. Although progress had been important and clinical trials were very optimistic there was still no vaccine available. Trials continued in the following months and finally, on April 12, 1955 it was made public the news that everyone expected: Salk had found a safe and effective vaccine against polio.