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From: decomyn@penguin.uss.tek.com
Newsgroups: comp.virus
Subject: Re: Salk Vaccine
Message-ID: <0001.9009101250.AA03627@ubu.cert.sei.cmu.edu>
Date: 5 Sep 90 20:51:26 GMT
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HAMER@VCUVAX.BITNET (ROBERT M. HAMER) writes:
>On 26 Aug 90 00:48:38 decomyn@penguin.uss.tek.com writes:
>
>>This is not exactly true.  Although the person getting the vaccine (or
>>their parents) hopefully understand the risks and benifits, the Salk
>>vaccine actually spreads to non-vaccinated people, transmitting the
>>benifits of the vaccine to them without their knowledge or consent.
>>That is why the Salk vaccine is used, rather than a killed virus
>>vaccine.
>
>The Salk vaccine was a _KILLED_ virus vaccine, created by Jonas Salk.

You're right, of course.  I always have trouble keeping these two straight.

>Several years later, Albert Sabin created a weakened _LIVE_ virus
>vaccine, called, not surprisingly, the Sabin vaccine.  Its purpose was
>not to spread to "non-vaccinated" people.  It was designed neither to
>spread not to make people sick; just to do a better job of getting the
>immune system to create antibodies to polio than did the Salk vaccine.

I am afraid you need to do a little more research on this.  The
government policy pushing the live-virus vaccine (Sabin) in favor of
the killed- virus vaccine emphasizes the ability of the live-virus
vaccine to spread to non-vaccinated children, spreading the benefits.
There have been several popular accounts of this as well, including
one episode on Nova (PBS).

If you wish to discuss this further. let us move it to email or
sci.medicine.

Brendt Hess
decomyn@penguin.uss.tek.com