Stop Polio Sunday [handbill]

Promotional materials for "Stop Polio Sunday. Second Dose Jan. 19." A hand drops the vaccine onto a sugar cube.

Text: "everyone needs Sabin Vaccine. 
For complete protection against polio, EVERYONE over two months old needs ALL THREE TYPES of Sabin oral vaccine. Sabin school clincis will be open JANUARY 19 from NOON TO 6 P.M. to offer you your second dose of Sabin oral vaccine. 

BE SURE AND ATTEND YOUR LOCAL SABIN CLINIC AND TAKE THE SECOND DOSE OF SABIN VACCINE. HELP TO BANISH POLIO FROM THE RICHMOND AREA FOREVER. 
Check the other side for clinic nearest you."

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The (near) elimination of polio is one of medicine’s great success stories. Jonas Salk (1914–1995) developed the first effective polio vaccine in 1953. Albert Sabin (1906–1993) developed an oral version of the vaccine in 1956.

Polio cases dropped dramatically wherever the vaccines were used, and polio was eliminated in the U.S. by 1979. Through the efforts of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, formed in 1988, worldwide polio cases were down to 37 by 2016. 

Poliomyelitis vaccines were not without problems, though, especially initially. The Sabin version was more effective and easier to administer, but in very rare cases (1 in 2.9 million), it could produce a form of polio. It was abandoned in the U.S. by 2000.

The Sabin vaccine required three doses, given six to eight weeks apart. In Richmond, Sunday vaccine drives were organized in the 1960s, leading to widespread city vaccination rates.