History of Vaccines: Part 2
Virus, Vaccines, Verification
World War II accelerated vaccine development. Fear of a repetition of the 1918–19 world epidemic of influenza focused urgent attention on all viral diseases, while commercial production of antibiotics taught researchers to grow viruses with less contamination. Also, investigators paid closer attention to vaccine safety and effectiveness through clinical studies before release of a vaccine to the public, especially after the yellow fever vaccine apparently caused hepatitis B in many U.S. soldiers in 1942.
The U.S. Army hospital in Royat, France, during the World War I influenza epidemic
Courtesy of National Library of Medicine
Early Research
Polio vaccine is made from the actual virus. For both research and production, vaccine makers needed to grow large quantities of virus. Influenza virus had been grown in chicken eggs, but this method did not work for polio. So researchers sought other materials in which to grow poliovirus.
Laboratory workers preparing chicken eggs for use as the nutrient base for growing viruses, 1940s
In 1936, Albert Sabin and Peter Olitsky at the Rockefeller Institute demonstrated that poliovirus could grow in human embryonic brain tissue, but they feared that this method might risk central nervous system damage in those who received the vaccine. The advantage of embryonic tissue, however, was that it grew quickly.
Copy of page from Thomas Weller's notebook, March 30, 1948, describing the experiment for which he, John Enders, and Frederick Robbins won the Nobel Prize in 1954
Courtesy of Watson Publishing International
Thomas Weller, Frederick Robbins, and John Enders receiving the Nobel Prize in Stockholm, for “the cultivation of the poliomyelitis viruses in tissue culture,” 1954
A Nobel Prize
In March 1948, John Enders, Thomas Weller, and Frederick Robbins used human embryonic skin and muscle tissue grown in a nutrient mix with antibiotics to prove poliovirus could infect tissue other than nerve cells. Their confirmation meant that researchers could now grow enough poliovirus to create large quantities of vaccine.
The three scientists won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1954, the year polio vaccine had its first large clinical trial. Neither Jonas Salk nor Albert Sabin received a Nobel Prize for their work in creating vaccines.
Previous
Next
From John Enders’ lab, 1948: flasks in which poliovirus grew in monkey kidney tissue, and the wooden drum used to roll test tubes containing the growing virus slowly and continuously.
John Enders’ Test Tube Rolling Drum, 1940s
John Enders' Flasks of Poliovirus Cultures, 1940s
From John Enders’ lab, 1948: flasks in which poliovirus grew in monkey kidney tissue, and the wooden drum used to roll test tubes containing the growing virus slowly and continuously.
John Enders’ Test Tube Rolling Drum, 1940s
John Enders' Flasks of Poliovirus Cultures, 1940s
Twentieth Century Vaccines
Previous
Next
Twentieth Century Vaccines
Typhus Vaccine, Cox Type, around 1943
Poliomyelitis Vaccine - Types 1, 2 and 3, 1954 - 1955
Plague Vaccine, USP, around 1998
Recombivax HB, Hepatitis B Vaccine (Recombinant), around 1986
Rabies Vaccine, U.S.P. Human (Phenol Killed Virus), around 1964
Mulford Anthrax Spore Vaccine, Veterinary, around 1957
Influenza Virus Vaccine Bivalent, around 1973
Rubelogen - Rubella Virus Vaccine, Live, around 1972
Dryvax Dried Smallpox Vaccine, around 1962
Twentieth Century Vaccines
Typhus Vaccine, Cox Type, around 1943
Poliomyelitis Vaccine - Types 1, 2 and 3, 1954 - 1955
Plague Vaccine, USP, around 1998
Recombivax HB, Hepatitis B Vaccine (Recombinant), around 1986
Rabies Vaccine, U.S.P. Human (Phenol Killed Virus), around 1964
Mulford Anthrax Spore Vaccine, Veterinary, around 1957
Influenza Virus Vaccine Bivalent, around 1973
Rubelogen - Rubella Virus Vaccine, Live, around 1972
Dryvax Dried Smallpox Vaccine, around 1962
