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On April 12, 1955, the United States health authorities declared the polio vaccine, created by Jonas Salk, to be safe and effective. Although most individuals infected with polio experienced only fleeting symptoms, approximately one in every 200 cases led to permanent paralysis, a condition that notably affected U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Thanks to Salk’s pioneering vaccine and later the oral vaccine developed by Dr. Albert Sabin, poliomyelitis was virtually eradicated in the United States by 1979.