CHAPTER TWELVE— COXGRESSIOXAL RESPONSE TO 

 THE SALK VACCINE FOR ESBIUNIZATION AGAINST 

 POLIOMYELITIS 



I. Introductiox 



This chapter considers the problem that confronted the Congress in 

 mid-1955 concerning Government action to make widely available the 

 first effective immmiization treatment for polio. 



From the outset the task was generally recognized as calling for 

 some degree of participation by the Federal Government. Poliomye- 

 litis, or polio, was a dangerous disease, widespread in occurrence, caus- 

 ing frequent death or severe and permanent crippling impairment. The 

 level of effort inherent in the full, speedy, and effective distribution of 

 a promising vaccine implied support of such a magnitude as to require 

 Federal assistance. The vaccine itself had been developed under a pro- 

 gram supported by broad public contributions of funds: this was 

 the March of Dimes campaign, whose inspiration had been associated 

 with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, himself a victim of the disease. 



The annoimcement of the successful development of the vaccme, by 

 Dr. Jonas Salk of the University of Pittsburgh, had been made jointly 

 by the L^niversity of Michigan and the National Foundation for In- 

 fantile Paralysis (NFIP) on April 12, 1955. Since the incidence of 

 polio attacks reached a peak during the summer months, the public 

 response was to call for a prompt and vigorous national program of 

 immunization in hope of averting this annual plague. This urgency 

 provided further justification for participation in the program by the 

 Federal Government. 



On the other hand, the risk inherent in any new vaccination program 

 was made more extensive by the prospect of national distribution of the 

 biologic and more intensive by the public insistence on its speedy ex- 

 ploitation. The established governmental procedures for licensing of 

 the vaccine were accordingly put under stress, in addition to which, the 

 participation of the Federal Government in the distribution program 

 implied an increased extent of obligation to assure the safety and reli- 

 ability of the new preventative. It quickly became evident that the 

 employment of polio vaccines was not without some degree of medical 

 risk. 



Increasing incidence of polio in early 1950' s 



The menace of polio as a rising problem of national health was 

 brought out in hearings in 1955. In a report on the Poliomyelitis Vacci- 

 nation Assistance Act of 1955, the House Committee on Interstate 

 and Foreign Commerce found the incidence of the disease, its severity, 

 and the range of ages affected, all on the increase. 



* * * Particularly during tbe last decade, a marked increase has occurred. The 

 death rate has shown a slight but definite increase. In 19.52, for the Nation, both 

 the case rate and the estimated death rate were the highest since the 1916 

 epidemic. 



(309) 



