A Special Report on Polio

This June 1955 broadcast by the radio and television networks in cooperation with the U.S. Public Health Service hoped to dispel fears about the safety of the new Salk vaccine. U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare Secretary Oveta Culp Hobby - who resigned a month later - introduces Surgeon General Leonard Scheele, who details efforts to insure the vaccine’s safety. In May of 1955, the Surgeon General of the United States temporarily shut down the distribution of the Salk vaccine. In what is known as the “Cutter Incident,” about 200,000 children had received a defective vaccine manufactured by Cutter Laboratories resulting in 40,000 cases of polio, 200 children with paralysis and 10 deaths. The problem led to congressional hearings, reforms, and the resignations of the National Institutes of Health director and Secretary Hobby. This film is part of the Library of Congress motion picture collections. close