Salk polio vaccine trial

The randomised part of the Salk Polio Vaccine trial has all the hallmarks of modern day trials randomisation, control group, blinding and it was experiences of these kinds that helped convince researchers that only under these conditions can clear, scientifically valid conclusions be drawn. 

One of the largest trials ever conducted took place in the US in 1954 and concerned the evaluation of the Salk Polio Vaccine. The trial has been reported extensively by Meier (1978) and is used by Pocock (1983) in his discussion of the historical development of clinical trials. 

On 1st February 1951 Flenrietta Lacks, who was suffering from cervical cancer, had - without her consent - samples of her cervix removed at the Johns Hopkins Hospital In Baltimore. She deceased on 4th October of the same year. A subset of her malignant cells was characterised and found to divide beyond the normal limit. From a single of these cells, researchers were able to establish the first Immortal human cell line, which they labelled HeLa-cells, in memory of the donor. From 1952 right up to the present time, this cell line is used worldwide for research purposes, as e.g. for the development of the polio vaccine by Jonas Salk at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, which underwent clinical trials already in 1954. 

The National Foundation, which funded the research, and the American public wanted a mass vaccination urgently. The average incidence of polio in the US in 1949-1953 was 25.7 cases per 100 000 children. The National Foundation ordered 27 million doses of the Salk vaccine for a trial, and close to one million children were vaccinated (749 236 children from Grades 1,2 and 3 were offered vaccine, and 401 974 completed the trial). 

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