About

He was born in Białystok, Poland, in 1906 and emigrated to the United States at the age of 15. Sabin attended medical school at New York University and later conducted research at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. During his career, Sabin made significant contributions to the field of virology, particularly in the study of poliovirus. He focused on developing a live, attenuated (weakened) vaccine that could be administered orally rather than through injections, which were the standard method at the time. After years of research and testing, Sabin successfully developed an oral polio vaccine in the 1950s. Sabin's vaccine, known as the Sabin vaccine or the oral polio vaccine (OPV), was a major breakthrough in the fight against polio, a highly contagious and debilitating disease. Unlike the previously used inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), the OPV provided long-lasting immunity and was easily administered to large populations, making it more suitable for use in mass vaccination campaigns. After the licensing of the Sabin vaccine in the United States in 1961, it was quickly adopted by many countries around the world as part of global efforts to eradicate polio. The vaccine proved to be highly effective and played a key role in the decline of polio cases worldwide. Aside from his work on polio, Sabin also made notable contributions to the study of other viral diseases such as dengue fever and viral hepatitis. He served as a professor at several institutions, including the University of Cincinnati and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Albert Sabin received numerous awards and honors for his work, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States. He continued to advocate for global efforts to eradicate polio until his death in 1993. Today, the Sabin vaccine remains one of the primary strategies in the worldwide campaign to eliminate polio, and Albert Sabin's legacy as a pioneer in medical research and public health continues to be recognized and celebrated.