On April 12, 1955, Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine was declared safe and was licensed on the same day, prompting a national celebration. However, by April 25, reports circulated about new polio cases linked to the vaccine. An investigation largely traced the defective doses back to Cutter Laboratories, one of six companies approved to manufacture the vaccine. The tainted vaccine doses contained a live polio virus rather than an inactive virus.
While Cutter Laboratories recalled its polio vaccine on April 27, 1955, an estimated 200,000 people were infected by the live polio virus found within the contaminated batches. Of that number, around 164 people were paralyzed and 10 died. The “Cutter Incident” temporarily halted the nation’s first commercial polio vaccine campaign.
Within weeks, however, the campaign resumed with refined quality control standards. In the aftermath of the “Cutter Incident,” President Eisenhower’s statement expresses confidence in the polio vaccine’s safety to a concerned American public.
