ALBERT SABIN

A scientific celebrity under the microscope.

Jonas Salk developed the first effective polio vaccine, but Albert Sabin (1906-1993) developed the only vaccine that can eradicate polio from the planet. Speaking Yiddish when he arrived to the U.S. in 1921, Sabin was a brilliant student, accumulating honors, scholarships, and positions at the prestigious Rockefeller Institute and University of Cincinnati, where he made his mark. Epidemiologist and historian Torghele delivers an insightful biography plus vivid accounts of Salk and other major figures, as well as a lucid explanation of how to make a vaccine. Salk’s vaccine—which required injection—used dead viruses. This was a challenge since every virus had to be killed to avoid the vaccine actually causing disease. Sabin chose to use weakened live viruses that wouldn’t cause disease but would stimulate an immune response, like the measles and mumps vaccines. It’s harder, and the obsessively careful Sabin was far from finished in 1955 when Salk’s was tested successfully, making him a national hero. His worked, although it was not fully effective. In 1959, when Sabin pronounced his oral vaccine safe, 6,000 Americans caught polio. Sabin maintained—correctly—that his vaccine was cheaper, more effective, and easier to administer. Even better, those given live virus excreted it, infecting others, immunizing them. It’s the only way to eradicate polio completely. Soon after U.S. approval of the Sabin Oral Polio Vaccine in 1962, it became the standard worldwide. Nothing is perfect, and rarely—perhaps one in a million doses—Sabin’s virus mutates and causes polio. In 1999, with polio officially eradicated in the U.S., his vaccine was discontinued and Salk’s revived. Some wealthy nations did the same. Poor nations still use the cheaper oral version, which, in a U.N. program to eradicate polio worldwide, is nearing its goal. Torghele’s warts-and-all account turns up plenty. Yet if one were to list history’s greatest humanitarians—those who had saved the most lives and relieved the most suffering—Sabin is a shoo-in.

A rich portrait of a health care hero.