PhD Thesis - ResearchSpace@Auckland - The University of Auckland

ethink their original decision. From 1957 all children up to age 14 were immunised
with locally produced Salk vaccine. 39
Canada had however, already been manufacturing Salk vaccine from its Connaught
Serum Laboratories in Toronto. 40 Subject to strict government control, Connaught
had prepared all the virus fluids for use in the 1954 tests in the United States. They
then began to prepare the vaccine in anticipation of a mass immunisation campaign in
1955. Connaught’s vaccine was double-checked, by both themselves and the
Canadian Laboratory of Hygiene. 41 Each Canadian province then embarked on an
immunisation programme with close assistance from the federal government. By July
1955 close to 600,000 children aged between five and ten received at least two doses
of Salk vaccine without a single mishap. 42 This demonstrated to the world that if
manufactured and tested correctly there was no danger from the Salk vaccine. It also
showed that in the United States the fault lay with the pharmaceutical companies and
federal government, not the vaccine itself. Figures for polio cases in Canada in 1955
revealed that the effectiveness of the vaccine was about 85 percent. 43 The Canadian
experience therefore did much to help restore shaken overseas confidence in the worth
of the Salk polio vaccine although it did little to improve the image of American
vaccine manufacturers!
Polio Vaccine Advisory Committee
One of the main reasons for the ‘Cutter Incident’ in the United States was the lack of
government interest and control in the manufacture of the polio vaccine. 44 In New
Zealand all vaccines, whether on the free list or not, had to be registered and receive
Health Department approval before they could be used. Nevertheless, New Zealand
did not produce any vaccines and did not do its own testing; the Health Department
was dependent on advice from overseas. As has been previously argued, by the 1950s
39
U. Lindner, S. Blume, ‘Vaccine Innovation and Adoption: Polio Vaccines in the UK, the Netherlands
and West Germany, 1955-1965’, Medical History, 5, 4, p.430.
40
For a full history of polio including the use of vaccines in Canada see C. J. Rutty, ‘Do
Something!…Do Anything! Poliomyelitis in Canada 1927-1962’, PhD thesis, University of Toronto,
1995.
41
ibid., p.353.
42
ibid., p.345.
43
ibid., p.355. A case rate of 0.54 per 100,000 was reported for those immunised (599,798) whilst in
the non-immunised control group the rate was 5.76 per 100,000 (885,070).
44
P. A. Offit, The Cutter Incident, pp.118-19.
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