In the 1950s, thousands of Germans became ill with polio, also known as infantile paralysis. Medicine invested in research and finally the first mass vaccination came in April 1957 – with great success.
A vaccine imported from the USA is used. After a month, Süddeutscher Rundfunk takes stock with experts.
background
The isolation of the polio pathogen and the development of a suitable vaccine had previously taken years.
A vaccine had also been developed in Germany and 50,000 children had already been vaccinated two years earlier. But this vaccine was withdrawn from circulation because there were doubts as to whether it was really safe. Hence the import of the American vaccine.
Oral vaccination against infantile paralysis or polio in 1980 in Iserlohn
Imago/Photographer Klaus Rose –
“Oral vaccination is sweet”
Only the introduction of the live vaccine 1961 really pushed the pathogen back. This was the oral vaccination that was given to children with a sugar cube. And to guarantee success, one sentence was repeatedly drummed into Germans for more than twenty years: “Polio is cruel, oral vaccination is sweet.”
In 1998, oral vaccination was abolished again in this country. Since then, children have become more developed Inactivated vaccine injected, in which the administered viruses are not able to reproduce. Europe has been considered polio-free since 2002.
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