65 74(SALK, Jonas) (FRANCIS, Thomas, Jr.). Vaccination against Paralytic Poliomyelitis. Ann Arbor, 12 April 1955. Quarto, spiral-bound portfolio. $12,500 “A Wave Of Joy Swept The Nation”: 1955 Polio Vaccination Report, Inscribed By Vaccine Discoverer Jonas Salk To A Fellow Physician Presentation copy of this typescript report on the “Performance and Prospects” of the polio vaccine, delivered by Dr. Thomas Francis, Jr. on the same day in which Jonas Salk’s vaccine was pronounced safe to administer, inscribed: “To Albert J. Kaiser—Jonas Salk, September 1983.” In the year leading up to Salk’s crucial breakthrough, polio was the leading cause of death among American children. The success of Salk’s polio vaccine elevated him to the status of folk hero and led to the virtual eradication of the crippling childhood disease. “The National Foundation scheduled national field tests of Salk’s vaccine for 1954, to be supervised by [Dr. Thomas] Francis, and Salk started inoculating children on 23 February 1954 at Arsenal Elementary School in Pittsburgh... More than 400,000 children were injected with the vaccine, while a group of similar size received placebos and another group was observed but not injected. Francis and his team used computers to record and analyze data [detailed in the present report]. Francis announced the results of the national trial on 12 April 1955 at Ann Arbor, Michigan, in front of television and movie cameras, 150 reporters, and hundreds of doctors and scientists. The vaccine, he said, was effective, powerful, and safe. A wave of joy swept the nation. Shoppers in stores listened to the Francis speech over radio loudspeakers; church bells were rung” (ANB). This report was prepared for that 1955 public presentation and press conference. The recipient, Dr. Alfred J. Kaiser, was a physician and anesthesiologist. Interior clean, a few minor bumps to extremities of portfolio covers. A near-fine copy.
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