Polio Pioneers
The Salk polio vaccine field trial of 1954 was then the largest clinical field trial ever organized and stands as the largest peacetime mobilization of volunteers in history. Over 1.8 million young school children, called “Polio Pioneers,” were involved in the trial, and each received a Polio Pioneer button and card from the March of Dimes for participating.
The 1954 field trial to test the effectiveness of the Salk polio vaccine was the largest peacetime mobilization of volunteers in American history and an unprecedented clinical trial conducted in a human population. With the field trial, the work of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP) culminated after 16 years of intensive efforts in fund raising, research, and epidemic aid to find a means to combat the disease poliomyelitis. The field trial was:
· Initiated, organized, and funded by The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP)
· Conducted by medical and public health authorities and volunteer agencies and individuals
· Guided and evaluated by the Poliomyelitis Vaccine Evaluation Center at the University of Michigan established at the request of the NFIP as an impartial, independent organization
· Planned and implemented in geographical areas and in an age group of highest polio incidence, in subjects selected by voluntary participation
· Involved the participation of 1,831,702 children (school grades 1, 2, and 3) in 217 areas of 44 states who became known as “Polio Pioneers”
· Confirmed the effectiveness and safety of a vaccine that ultimately reduced the incidence rate of polio by 96% when put in use from 1955 to 1961.
