is perhaps the most renowned in the roll call of people who were instrumental in bringing about an effective solution to the scourge of polio or infantile paralysis. There was and still is no cure for polio. The means of stopping polio epidemics is through immunisation. Jonas Salk was the first to devise an effective method of inactivating (killing) the polio virus and producing a vaccine (IPV) that following field trials in 1954 was subsequently used in a mass immunisation programme by inoculation (injection) in the USA. Following the success of the first mass immunisation programme, other countries including the UK, subsequently began their own immunisation programs with noticeable success.
Dr Salk was interviewed by the Academy of Achievement about his life and work. "When did you first have a vision of what you might accomplish in the field you chose?" Jonas Salk: "You never have an idea of what you might accomplish. All that you do is you pursue a question and see where it leads. The first moment that a question occurred to me that did influence my future career, occurred in my second year at medical school. You never have an idea of what you might accomplish. All that you do is you pursue a question. And see where it leads. The first moment that a question occurred to me that did influence my future career, occurred in my second year at medical school."
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