RFK & the antivaccine movement claim there are no placebo controlled trial vaccines. So let's talk about the @marchofdimes.bsky.social Francis Field trials for polio. In 1954, 2 concurrent trials were initiated, enrolling 1.8 million children. This was the largest clinical trial ever done. - ThreadSky

dfreedman7.bsky.social • 72 days ago

RFK & the antivaccine movement claim there are no placebo controlled trial vaccines. So let's talk about the @marchofdimes.bsky.social Francis Field trials for polio. In 1954, 2 concurrent trials were initiated, enrolling 1.8 million children. This was the largest clinical trial ever done.

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dfreedman7.bsky.social•72 days ago

Half of this study observed 1.08 million children, the other half randomized 750k children to either placebo or Salk vaccine (~440k vaccine, ~210k placebo). These children were called the Polio Pioneers. Vaccine reduced paralytic cases by 72%, no fatalities reported.

dfreedman7.bsky.social•72 days ago

The results were announced on April 12, 1955, the 10th anniversary of FDR's death. Salk refused to patent the vaccine, famously stating "can you patent the Sun?" The vaccine was licensed that year and 5 pharmaceutical companies immediately began production.

dfreedman7.bsky.social•72 days ago

Polio vaccines (both Salk's inactivated vaccine & Sabin's live attenuated vaccine) have pushed polio to the brink of eradication. Africa was declared polio free in 2020. We are so close to finishing the job.

dfreedman7.bsky.social•72 days ago

The current polio vaccine (IPOL) was approved in 1989 as a modification to Salk's original vaccine based on improvements in purification, concentration, and standardization of poliovirus antigen. Thousands of infants received this vaccine in multiple trials demonstrating its safety & efficacy.

dfreedman7.bsky.social•72 days ago

The IPOL trials were non-inferiority trials to show that it worked as well or better than Salk's vaccine. It would be unethical to repeat a placebo controlled trial when we have a safe vaccine that we know works.

dfreedman7.bsky.social•72 days ago

Anyone proposing a randomized placebo control trial for polio does not understand the history or the danger of failing to protect children from this deadly disease.

For more reading check out "Polio: An American Story."

johnsonll.bsky.social•60 days ago

Other details in https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1114166/

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