Regional polio vaccine rollout in 1955 anything but smooth - Times Union

Regional polio vaccine rollout in 1955 anything but smooth - Times Union

Regional polio vaccine rollout in 1955 anything but smooth - Times Union

Posted: 25 Jan 2021 08:16 AM PST

A fire ripped through Caroline Street in Saratoga Springs, leveling the block and killing eight people, all members of the same family, and the top of the Times Union's front page the next day – April 13, 1955 – was dominated with the story, punctuated by stark photos of the buildings along the once-busy thoroughfare, now smoldering husks against a harsh winter sky.

And it also overshadowed the other major news of the day, good news, not just for the Capital Region, but statewide, nationally and across the world – the Salk polio vaccine was being sent out to communities throughout the United States, including Albany and the surrounding cities and towns.

Poliomyelitis, a highly infectious disease caused by the poliovirus, had been around for thousands of years, transmitted through infected water or food, or from another infected person. Some people with polio never became sick or had symptoms, but many, particularly children, suffered paralysis and in extreme cases, death.

In 1950, a doctor at the University of Pittsburgh purified gamma globulin from the blood plasma of polio survivors which included antibodies that could stop infections, prevent the disease and reduce the severity of it for those already infected. Unfortunately, the extremely limited supply of gamma globulin made its widespread use impractical.

Jonas Salk, a virologist at the same college, developed a much more successful polio vaccine two years later and it was ultimately announced on April 12, 1955. This is the medicine heralded under the Times Union's banner headline: "Salk Vaccine Rolling to Doctors After U.S. Okay."

The first shipment of the Salk vaccine arrived at the Albany Airport on April 13, destined for the local branch of the Parke Davis & Company pharmaceutical company in Menands. K.C. Griswold, manager for the Albany district of Eli Lilly and Company, one of the manufacturers of the vaccine, said they expected to distribute the product to local pharmacies within three to 10 days.

Doctors throughout the area could then purchase the vaccine at an estimated $3.50 per required three-shot dose, to then begin inoculating their individual patients.

School children in first, second and third grades in upstate New York had been part of field trial for the vaccine in 1954, and evidence now showed that it had reduced cases of infantile paralysis by 75 percent. "Any vaccine which gives us a 75 percent reduction in incidence is a great vaccine," said state health commissioner Dr. Herman E. Hilleboe at the time.

The Salk vaccine was regarded as "practically perfect" by medical experts, with the potential to effectively wipe out the disease. This, despite Salk himself cautioning everyone that no vaccine could ever be absolutely perfect.

A schedule was set up in Albany County to administer shots to around 10,000 first and second graders whose parents had given permission beginning on May 2. A second injection was to be given one week later, and a third booster shot four weeks after that.

Ten vaccination sites were set up in the city of Albany, including: St. Joseph's Academy, Philip Schuyler High School, St. Patrick's School, St. Casimir's School, Hackett Junior High, and Schools 4, 18, 20 and 27. Heatly School in Green Island was being set up as a site, as was Abram Lansing School and the Van Schoick School in Cohoes. Two unnamed sites were to be announced for Watervliet.

Elsewhere in the county, Ravena, Delmar, Loudonville, Colonie, Altamont, Fort Hunter, Berne, Knox, Voorheesville and other municipalities would be offering up their schools for use.

The county's supply of allocated vaccinations would come from the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis to the State Health Department Laboratory on New Scotland Avenue in Albany. The allotment for Albany County was 18 cartons, with each carton holding 1,000 cubic centimeters of the vaccine.

In the plan laid out by Commissioner Hilleboe, 725,302 children in New York would be getting the course of shots by the beginning of polio season. Drug officials conceded, however, that there would not be enough doses of the vaccine to meet all the needs of the season, and that salesmen, physicians and health officials would have to make the tough calls as to how to distribute the vaccine where there was the greatest need.

Salk had recently suggested, though, that only two injections might be required to provide complete immunity. Hilleboe said that if this proved to be true and a two-shot treatment was adopted nationally, the inoculation program would increase to 1,100,000 students. The state was to receive 2,200,000 shots as its share of the national total. A two-shot procedure would involve an initial dose beginning May 2 and the second following seven to 10 months later.

Within days, the two-shot vaccine was adopted by the Unites States, pleasing Salk, as well as the communities tasked with delivering the shots. A day later, New York upped its funds, providing an additional 250,000 children with the vaccine in the summer months. Hardest-hit communities would receive the shots, too.

The complete schedule of vaccinations for Albany County was also put out, detailing all the schools participating and including many more than were originally announced. Albany County Health Commissioner Dr. John J. Powers said 10,000 students in the county would be vaccinated starting on May 2, with 2,000 a day getting their first shot, split between morning and afternoon sessions.

At some point, the federal government reversed itself and once-again recommended returning to the three-shot procedure over the course of five weeks.

On April 21, the "family doctors" of Albany County held a special meeting at Herbert's Restaurant where they formalized the policy that no one would get the Salk vaccine within the county until every student received their free doses. This included their private patients, themselves and even members of their own families.

Officials in Troy planned to begin administering the Salk vaccine on Monday, April 25, ahead of the May 2 start date for Albany and other cities. They said they had not yet received any of the vaccines but were confident they would arrive in time.

Then, on April 28, it was revealed that 25 children in Troy had gotten shots manufactured by Cutter Laboratories, Inc., out of California. Just days before, the news broke that shipments of the Cutter-manufactured vaccine had given children polio instead of preventing. Several children in parts of the country became paralyzed, and some died.

None of the children from Troy experienced any ill effects, but the Cutter vaccine was taken off the market here, as it had been in the rest of the country. Health authorities in Albany and Rensselaer County traced shipments from the company to this area and removed them from distribution routes. The free vaccine provided to the state's school children was not made by Cutter; that product was intended and used for private inoculations.

Meanwhile, Albany County's vaccine program was bumped one week to May 9 because sufficient numbers of the vaccine could not be obtained in time. Area officials continued testing local children who had received the Cutter vaccine and found that no one had gotten polio. They also urged the community to not lose faith in the Salk vaccine.

The federal government, following the Cutter incident and the public outcry, called for a "short suspension" of the Salk vaccine inoculations, as it decided to review all the test and procedures every company went through in producing the serum. He reiterated that the vaccine was safe and effective.

Adhering to the government's recommendations, state health commissioner Hilleboe said that New York had already postponed further vaccinations until May 16 and would now wait until the Surgeon General and his committee gave the go ahead.

By May 14, the pause on vaccines was lifted and Albany County set its new commencement date as May 23. On May 16, state health commissioner Hilleboe said enough vaccines to give first shots to every state student aged five to nine, except those in Erie County and New York City, would be delivered that day. Albany County health commissioner Powers said immunizations of first and second graders would begin on May 23, but third and fourth graders would have to wait until more vaccines were received.

Schenectady, getting a jump on the Capital City, began their vaccinations on May 18, using the newly arrived shipments.

Finally, on Monday, May 16, Albany County (as well as Rensselaer) began administering the first injections of the Salk vaccine to students. Area doctors and educators expected a high turnout of children, unlike other parts of the state that had seen a significant drop-off in vaccinations in the wake of the Cutter incident.

As the Capital Region engaged in its so-far successful implementation of the Salk polio vaccine rollout, in western New York and elsewhere in the country, more victims of the Cutter-produced vaccine were discovered, and the public's confidence dimmed. Government and health experts, from the National Institutes for Health and the Surgeon General, to health commissioners and Jonas Salk himself, continued to vouch for the vaccine's safety, but the damage had already been done.

The vaccine from Cutter Laboratories ultimately resulted in 40,000 cases of polio and 10 deaths. Later research showed that the product, along with another company's, had allowed live poliovirus to go out to the public because it had not been properly inactivated.

The Salk vaccine continued to be used for years, but vaccination rates decreased sharply and its reputation never recovered. Then, in 1961, Albert Sabin introduced his new oral vaccine, developed outside the United States because the U.S. government was still committed to Salk. After vaccinating 10,000,000 children in the Soviet Union, the Sabin vaccine was mass produced here and replaced the Salk vaccine as the nation's polio prevention of choice.

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