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The 1954 Poliomyelitis Vaccine Field Trial

By / / 1954 Poliomyelitis Vaccine Field Trial, Aaron Siri, buffer, formalin, infantile paralysis, Jonas Salk, Mixture 199, placebo, saline placebo, Thomas Francis

In 1954, the Salk polio vaccine was tested in the Poliomyelitis Vaccine Field Trial.

The 1954 Poliomyelitis Vaccine Field Trial

“THE LARGEST and most expensive medical experiment in history was carried out in 1954. Well over a million young children participated, and the immediate direct costs were over 5 million dollars. The experiment was carried out to assess the effectiveness, if any, of the Salk vaccine as a protection against paralysis or death from poliomyelitis.”

The Biggest Public Health Experiment Ever:
The 1954 Field Trial of the Salk Poliomyelitis Vaccine

It was the largest vaccine test in history!

The 1954 Poliomyelitis Vaccine Field Trial

Not surprisingly, anti-vaccine influencers have found a way to find fault with this polio vaccine field trial.

“Like Bell, Francis was adamant about a double-masked trial with randomized controls, but where Bell had proposed giving control subjects an influenza vaccine, Francis opted for use of a saline injection.”

The 1954 Salk poliomyelitis vaccine field trial

While many of us have thought that the kids in the control group of the vaccine trial got a saline injection, it is actually true that it was more than just saline.

The 1954 Salk poliomyelitis vaccine field trial did not use a pure saline placebo.
When will Aaron Siri admit to his mistakes?

Of course, Aaron Siri is still wrong that a saline placebo wasn’t used to evaluate a lot of other vaccines.

“Announcement was made in the autumn of 1953, by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, of its decision to conduct a large field trial in the prevention of poliomyelitis with a vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas E. Salk. The vaccine was to contain the three known types of virus in the form of fluid from cultures containing monkey kidney cells, and inactivated by formalin.”

An evaluation of the 1954 poliomyelitis vaccine trials

That they didn’t use a pure saline placebo doesn’t change the results of the trial, but we do like to be accurate and it is interesting to look at these old studies, so let’s take a closer look at this vaccine trial.

The first two digits of the lot number in combination with the two letter suffix helped to identify if kids got the vaccine or placebo in the Salk vaccine trial.
The first two digits of the lot number in combination with the two letter suffix helped to identify if kids got the vaccine or placebo.

It turns out that the trial actually used two types of control groups:

  • observed controls – these kids didn’t get anything – they were unvaccinated and didn’t even get the placebo
  • placebo controls – these kids got the placebo, a blind injected control that was made to look like the vaccine.

And no, they did not use a saline placebo.

“The placebo material served its purpose well.”

Evaluation of the 1954 Field Trial of Poliomyelitis Vaccine Final Report April, 1957

The placebo control saline injection they used, Mixture 199, included antibiotics, formalin, red coloring, and a buffer – so basically it was the vaccine without any of the polio virus.

This helped to keep the trial blinded.

“Mixture 199 was a synthetic tissue culture medium without animal serum, offering the advantage of avoiding potential allergenic responses which would be very problematic in a widely distributed vaccine.”

Hormesis and the Salk Polio Vaccine

If the placebo had been just saline, it would have been easier to know that you didn’t get the vaccine and that could have biased the results.

Still, the 1954 Poliomyelitis Vaccine Field Trial with unvaccinated observed controls and the non-saline placebo controls showed that the polio vaccine was safe and effective.

Kids in the placebo and unvaccinated control groups ended up with more polio, and so did their siblings. Why did some vaccinated kids get polio? The vaccine was 100% effective against poliovirus strain III, 92% effective against strain II, but only 68% effective against strain I.

As had Salk’s previous polio vaccine trial in 1953 that had used aqueous vaccines and emulsified vaccines.

Safety and the 1954 Poliomyelitis Vaccine Field Trial

But how do we know that the polio vaccine used in the 1954 Poliomyelitis Vaccine Field Trial was safe?

The 1954 Poliomyelitis Vaccine Field Trial looked closely at the safety of Salk's vaccine.
Children were evaluated at weekly intervals during the study.

Well, let’s just take a look at what these polio vaccine trials found!

There were few reactions during the Salk vaccine trial.
Few reactions were reported during the Salk vaccine trial.

Not surprisingly, they found that Salk’s polio vaccine caused few reactions and those reactions were mild.

The Salk vaccine trial actually compared vaccinated and unvaccinated kids to show the vaccine was safe.
The Salk vaccine trial actually compared vaccinated and unvaccinated kids to show the vaccine was safe.

There was no increase in side effects for kids who got the Salk vaccine, even as compared to placebo!

The Salk vaccine trial actually compared vaccinated and unvaccinated kids to show the vaccine was safe.
The Salk vaccine trial actually compared vaccinated and unvaccinated kids to show the vaccine was safe.

And with weekly check-ins, it is very clear that they showed that Salk’s vaccine was safe.

The Salk vaccine trial also compared vaccinated and kids who received the placebo to show the vaccine was safe.
The Salk vaccine trial also compared vaccinated and kids who received the placebo to show the vaccine was safe.

If you still aren’t convinced because they didn’t use a pure saline control, remember that they also compared kids who were vaccinated against those who were unvaccinated!

If the ingredients in the placebo were harmful, why didn’t that show up in the results when they looked at side effects and deaths vs those kids who were unvaccinated?

Deaths?

Yes, what about the deaths during the trial?

The majority of deaths in the Salk vaccine trials were in kids who weren't vaccinated.
Only one of six deaths was in a child who was vaccinated. Three were in children who were unvaccinated and didn’t even get a placebo.

There was one death in a vaccinated child, but he coincidentally died from chickenpox encephalitis (this was before we had a chickenpox vaccine).

The other deaths were in kids who were unvaccinated or who had gotten the placebo.

There were 71 cases of paralytic control in the vaccine groups, far fewer than the 609 cases in the control groups!

Also not surprisingly, the study found that more kids who were unvaccinated or who got placebo ended up getting paralyzed with polio.

And tragically, more of those kids died.

Of the fifteen kids who died with polio in the trial, all fifteen were either in the placebo (4) or observed control group (11).

The polio vaccines of Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin have helped us get close to eradicating polio from the world.
The polio vaccines of Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin have helped us get close to eradicating polio from the world.

Salk’s vaccine was proven to be safe and effective!

More on the 1954 Poliomyelitis Vaccine Field Trial

Last Updated on August 11, 2024