Polio Vaccine

Hilary Koprowski, M.D. is the discoverer of the first oral vaccine against poliomyelitis based on the oral administration of attenuated polio virus.  His research on polio began in 1947, and his vaccine was first administered in February 27, 1950.  During the ensuing 10 years, his oral polio vaccine was used extensively in four continents. His vaccine was also the first used for mass immunization trials against poliomyelitis in Zaire (then the Belgian Congo), where 250,000 children were orally immunized in six weeks.  At the same time, nine million children in Poland received the vaccine, preventing paralytic poliomyelitis outbreaks in that country.  Today, the Western Hemisphere has been declared free of paralytic polio, and the worldwide eradication of polio is within sight.  The pioneering work of Hilary Koprowski has made this possible.

Dr. Koprowski and his associates were the first to develop monoclonal antibodies that can be used and are being used currently for diagnosis of tumors and agents of infectious diseases. It is also used for cancer therapy. 

Since the 1990s, Dr. Koprowski started research on the use of plants to produce vaccines and sera.  He and his associates were quite successful in producing a number of vaccines against human and animal diseases.  He was motivated by producing safe and inexpensive products as compared to hitherto available products of animal tissue origin.