Science and Technology
Albert Sabin
1906–1993

Few in the history of medicine and science have contributed as much to the world as Dr. Albert B. Sabin. Sabin was the developer of the oral live virus polio vaccine, which has saved the lives of countless millions.

Childhood and education

Albert Bruce Sabin was born in 1906 in Białystok, Russia (now Poland). He and his family emigrated in to America in 1921, settling in Paterson, New Jersey. In 1930, Sabin became a naturalized citizen. He studied medicine at New York University, then interned at New York City’s Bellevue Hospital. He became the head of pediatric research at the University of Cincinnati.

A prolific researcher

Dr. Sabin documented research in more than 350 scientific papers. Some of that research included work on pneumonia, encephalitis, toxoplasmosis, viruses, sandfly fever, dengue and cancer. However, his passion was poliomyelitis (polio); he turned his attention to it following World War II. Sabin first thought the polio virus gained entrance through the respiratory tract, then found evidence that entry was through the digestive system.

Two vaccines compared

With the growing numbers of people affected with polio, he and other researchers, most notably Dr. Jonas Salk in Pittsburgh, sought a vaccine to prevent or to ameliorate the crippling disease. Salk's vaccine, called the "killed" vaccine, was tested and released for use in 1955. It was effective in preventing most of the complications of polio, but did not prevent the initial infection from occurring. Sabin's vaccine became available some five years later, when the United States Public Health Service endorsed his "live" virus vaccine for polio in 1961.

There were advantages to Sabin's oral vaccine, especially in less-developed countries, one was the ease of administration: no shots. The second plus was that the live vaccine provides both intestinal and bodily immunity; the killed vaccine provides only bodily immunity and allows the immune person to still serve as a carrier or transmitter. The third advantage to Sabin’s vaccine is that it produces lifelong immunity without the need for a booster shot or vaccination.

By the time the U.S. Public Health Service approved testing, more than 80 million people outside the United States had already taken Sabin's vaccine. The first U.S. test was held on "Sabin Sunday," April 24, 1960.

Scientist and humanitarian

Throughout Albert Sabin’s life, he served on many advisory medical research committees, and he received 46 honorary degrees from U.S. and foreign universities. He continued into his eighties to exert a significant impact on the international scientific community. Sabin's contributions were not just in the scientific world; he also was known as a humanitarian. He died in 1993, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

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