Question 1

True or false: Jonas Salk refused to patent the polio vaccine, saying it belonged to the people.

Accepted Answer

True. When asked who owned the patent, Salk replied, 'There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?' He never filed one.

Question 2

True or false: The polio vaccine immediately eradicated polio worldwide within two years of its introduction.

Accepted Answer

False. Eradication took decades; as of 2023, wild polio persisted in a few countries. Widespread vaccination began in 1955, but cases persisted.

Question 3

True or false: The polio vaccine was the first vaccine ever created using a live, attenuated virus.

Accepted Answer

False. The first live attenuated viral vaccine was Louis Pasteur's rabies vaccine in 1885. Polio vaccines (IPV in 1955, OPV in 1961) came later.

Question 4

True or false: Albert Sabin's oral polio vaccine contains live, weakened virus that can spread to unvaccinated people.

Accepted Answer

True. Sabin's OPV uses attenuated live virus; it can replicate and immunize others through fecal-oral transmission, aiding herd immunity.

Question 5

True or false: Jonas Salk developed the first successful polio vaccine in 1953 using a killed virus.

Accepted Answer

True. Salk's inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) was announced in 1953 and proven effective in the 1954 field trial.

Question 6

True or false: Polio vaccine development was funded entirely by the U.S. government through the National Institutes of Health.

Accepted Answer

False. Major funding came from the March of Dimes, a private charity, which raised public donations and financed Salk's research.

Question 7

True or false: Polio vaccines contain mercury-based preservatives that caused widespread autism in the 20th century.

Accepted Answer

False. Polio vaccines do not contain mercury-based preservatives; thimerosal was never used in them. Extensive research has proven no link between vaccines and autism.

Question 8

True or false: The first polio vaccine was tested on humans using prisoners and children from orphanages without consent.

Accepted Answer

False. Salk's 1952-53 trials used institutionalized children with parental permission, not prisoners. Prisoners were later involved in Sabin's oral vaccine tests. Orphanages were not used, and consent was obtained.

Polio vaccine development Trivia Questions