Albert Sabin(1906 — 1993)
Albert Sabin
États-Unis, Empire russe
6 min read
American physician and virologist of Polish origin. In the 1950s he developed the live attenuated oral vaccine against poliomyelitis, administered on a sugar cube, which made possible mass vaccination campaigns around the world.
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- Born in 1906 in Białystok (Russian Empire, now Poland), emigrated to the United States in 1921
- Developed the live attenuated oral vaccine against polio, tested on a large scale from 1957-1959
- His oral vaccine (OPV) was approved in the United States in 1961, succeeding the injectable vaccine of Jonas Salk (1955)
- Declined to patent his vaccine in order to make it accessible to as many people as possible
- Died in 1993 in Washington; his vaccine is a cornerstone of the global eradication of polio
Works & Achievements
His major achievement: a vaccine swallowed on a sugar cube, cheap and easy to administer, which became the main tool of the worldwide polio eradication campaigns.
Meticulous virology work that involved weakening the virus so it would immunize without causing illness.
Vaccination of millions of Soviet children, the first large-scale demonstration of the oral vaccine's effectiveness.
During the Second World War, Sabin helped develop vaccines to protect American soldiers.
A major ethical gesture: by refusing to patent his discovery, Sabin made it cheap and accessible to the entire world.
Sabin put his experience at the service of one of the world's great centers of scientific research.
Anecdotes
Albert Sabin was convinced that his oral vaccine, dropped onto a lump of sugar, was better than the injectable vaccine of his rival Jonas Salk. To prove it, he tested it on himself, on his own family, and on volunteer inmates in an Ohio prison.
Unable to test his vaccine on a large scale in the United States (where Salk's vaccine was already deployed), Sabin turned to the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War. Millions of Soviet children were vaccinated in the late 1950s, proving the effectiveness of the oral vaccine.
Sabin refused to patent his vaccine so that it would remain cheap and accessible to the entire world. He believed his discovery was a gift to humanity and did not want to profit from it.
Sabin's vaccine, simple to administer since it was swallowed rather than injected, became the main weapon in the great worldwide campaigns to eradicate polio, such as the “national immunization days” organized in dozens of countries.
Born in Białystok in the Russian Empire (today in Poland), Sabin emigrated to the United States as a teenager and learned English. He paid for part of his medical studies himself and became one of the most influential virologists of the 20th century.
Primary Sources
The live attenuated oral poliovirus vaccine offers the advantage of producing intestinal immunity and spreading naturally, enabling large-scale collective protection.
The trials conducted on several million children demonstrated the safety and effectiveness of the oral vaccine administered by mouth.
Oral administration of attenuated strains of all three types of poliovirus induces lasting immunity comparable to that of a natural infection, without causing the disease.
Key Places
Sabin's birthplace, then part of the Russian Empire. He spent his childhood there before his family emigrated.
Sabin studied medicine there and earned his degree in 1931. It was the starting point of his scientific career.
Laboratory at the University of Cincinnati where Sabin developed his oral polio vaccine in the 1950s.
Site of the mass trials of the oral vaccine in the late 1950s, which demonstrated its effectiveness on millions of children.
Prestigious research center that Sabin directed beginning in 1970.
Sabin's burial place, in tribute to his military service and his contribution to public health.