The Cutter incident and the development of a Swedish polio vaccine, 1952-1957

Abstract

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.