The Cutter incident and the development of a Swedish polio vaccine, 1952-1957
Metadatos
Mostrar el registro completo del ítemAutor
Axelsson, PerEditorial
Universidad de Granada
Materia
Polio vaccine Cutter incident Sweden Jonas Salk Sven Gard Vacuna de la polio Incidente Cutter Jonas Salk Sven Gard
Fecha
2012Referencia bibliográfica
Axelsson, P. «The Cutter Incident and the Development of a Swedish Polio Vaccine, 1952-1957». Dynamis: Acta Hispanica Ad Medicinae Scientiarumque Historiam Illustrandam, Vol. 32, Núm. 2, 1, p. 311-328.
Resumen
The creation of two different vaccines to eradicate polio stands out as one of modern
science most important accomplishments. The current article examines Swedish polio
vaccine research, the vaccination campaign and especially how the Cutter incident came to
affect Swedish Science, scientists and society in the 1950s. Sweden is one of the few countries
that came to produce its own inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) in the 1950s, a type of vaccine
they never abandoned. This article highlights the sometimes conflicting approaches between
medical science on one hand and media and public on the other. The Swedish researchers did
not agree with Jonas Salk’s methods for producing a safe vaccine and had reserved attitudes
when the Salk vaccine was announced, something that Swedish media disapproved of. After
the Cutter incident media’s representation of Swedish polio scientists became far more positive.
The article also shows the development and distribution of a Swedish IPV and that contrary to
some other countries Sweden did not doubt all American manufacturers and imported Salk
IPV for the first polio vaccination campaign.