Evening star., 1955-05-22
REVIEW OF The WEEK
Holds Up Safe Vaccine
Confusion Reiens
As Polio Experts
Debate What Next

More than a m onth ago the
United States Public Health Sefv-
ices said the new Salk polio vaccine
was safe and effective. and 1t was
licensed for production.
BY the end of April the inocula-
ton program had started. but a
few children came down with polio
after receiving the shots-particu-
larly vaccine from one company,
Cutter Laboratories. The Public
Health Service said all the vaccine
was safe. but ordered the Cutter
supply withheld from the market.
Polio cases continued to crop up
in small numbers among vaccinated
children. The Public Health Service,
in the person of DR.. Leonard A.
Scheele, Surgeon General, said the
vaccine was entirely safe. Then he
ordered the vaccination program
suspended.
Rechecks of manufacturing and
testing methods were ordered. DR..
Scheele said the vaccine was safe.
He released one million-shot batch
for use, then, last week, another
378,000-dose shipment.
The next word was that all vac
cine manufactured was safe but
that no more would be released un-
til further notice-even from two
companies where a double check
had been completed.
Still Sofe, but
AS last week ended, the vaccine
was still officially safe, but it was
anybodys guess when vaccinations
would be resumed or whether the
two-shot series could be given the
5-through-9 age group before the
height Of the polio season late this
summer. Consensus of experts is
that while the second shot may be
administered at any time, the first
shot should not be given in polio
season.
The public was confused. DR..
Scheele: his boss. Mrs. Oveta Culp
Hobby, Secretary Of Health, Educa-
tion and Welfare; the President, and
physicians working in the vaccina-
ton program also seemed puzzled.
Apparently the manufacture and
use of the vaccine was going as
planned-when it was going. Yet
not all the results were as planned.
Effects of the Cutter vaccine were
"erratic." And no one could figure
out why.
Some 80 youngsters had contracted
polio after shots. Most had the
Cutter vaccine. Yet youngsters shot
from the same vial of Cutter vac
cine with the same needle and by
the same doctor as youngsters who
did catch polio, did not catch it.
And the Cutter product tested out
as safe, sound and effective.
Restudy, Recheck, Re-exomine
The Public Health Service seeme@
to think the only thing to do is
restudy, recheck and re-examine.
DR.. Jonas Salk himself said the
polio cases were clearly coinci-
dental" The vaccine was never
announced as 100 per cent effective.
he pointed out. but people seemed
to expect it to be.
Meanwhile Mrs. Hobby finished
work on suggested program of VOL
untary controls on distribution of
the vaccine. She suggested the
5-through-9 age group be shot first,
then the under-5 group, then the
10-through-19 youngsters, and f.
nally pregnant women. by then
whenever that may be-there should
be plenty for everybody. States and
medical societies would police the
priority program.
Mrs. Hobby was promptly blasted
by Senate Democrats for the late
ness and weakness of her plan. She
startled her critics by saying, '"No
one could have foreseen the public
demand for the vaccine"
Democrats shouted a fabber-
gasted "What?" They lashed her
for gross incompetence" and de-
manded her scalp. The President,
however. insisted she had done a
magnificent" job. But he added
that she had been planning for sew
eral months to retire because of the
i'll health Of her husband.