Influenza vaccine developed to protect U.S. military forces
In 1938, Thomas Francis, Jr., MD and Jonas Salk, MD served as lead researchers at the University of Michigan to develop the first inactivated flu vaccine with support from the U.S. Army.
Their vaccine used fertilized chicken eggs in a method that is still used to produce most flu vaccines today. The original vaccine only includes an inactivated influenza A virus.
Salk would subsequently use this successful experience to develop an effective polio vaccine in 1952
Tags:
Source: U.S. National Library of Medicine
Credit: Photo: Thomas Francis Jr. by Fabian Bachrach. Iconographic Collections. Courtesy: Wikipedia.
