In 1960 a medical debate raged over the polio vaccine. In 1954 Dr. Jonas Salk had produced a killed-virus vaccine that was administered by injection and was 90 percent effective. The vaccine seemed relatively safe and cheap. Then in 1955 Dr. Albert B. Sabin of the University of Cincinnati produced a live-virus vaccine that was placed on a sugar cube and eaten, rather than injected. Researchers, physicians, and patients were wary. Researchers suspected that the attenuated, or weakened, virus might gain the strength to cause polio once it was introduced into the human body. Physicians felt the Salk vaccine had been proven, and it was not worth the risk to switch to an oral vaccine simply for the sake of convenience. Patients were suspicious of a process of preventing polio by eating the live polio virus.

A Cautious Success.

The live-virus vaccine was tested as an oral...