Polio Vaccine

March 26, 1953

Dr. Jonas Salk announces he has discovered and successfully tested a polio vaccine on 90 adults and children. It was the first successful vaccine for the dreaded disease. Before the vaccine, there were about 15,000 cases of paralysis and 1,900 deaths annually from polio in the U.S. Salk chose to not patent the vaccine in order to maximize its distribution. When asked who owned the patent, Salk replied, “Well, the people I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?” It is estimated the patent would have been worth billions had it been patented.