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The polio vaccine, developed by Jonas Salk, was declared ‘safe, effective and potent’ on 12 April 1955.

In the 20th century, polio was one of the most worrying childhood diseases with epidemics in a large number of cities. However today, much thanks to the polio vaccine, wild poliovirus is only endemic in two countries worldwide.

A number of other scientists paved the way for Salk’s research: first Karl Landsteiner and Erwin Popper who discovered the virus causing polio. Landsteiner was later awarded a Nobel Prize for another discovery – that of human blood groups.

Later, in 1949, Enders, Weller and Robbins showed how to produce large quantities of the virus and were awarded the 1954 ‪‎Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Jonas Salk used the Enders-Weller-Robbins technique to help develop his vaccine in 1952.