In a May ceremony in the U-M Rackham Building, the US Postal Service commemorated the development of a polio vaccine by Dr. Jonas Salk with the presentation of a commemorative stamp, "Polio Vaccine Developed."

When the Postal Service asked the American public to select what they considered the most important science and technology advancement of the 1950s, responders chose the polio vaccine, which was tested at the U-M School of Public Health (SPH) by Salk's mentor, Dr. Thomas Francis. Tbc vaccine was proven to be 60-90 percent effective in preventing paralytic polio in clinical trials. The success of the trials was announced at Rackham Auditorium on April 12, 1955.

Few scientific advances can be compared to the impact the Salk vaccine had on the health of children in the 1950s. After having been inoculated, most children successfully fought off the disease that killed and paralyzed children throughout the world. In 1961, Dr. Albert Sabin developed a live attenuated (weakened) oral polio vaccine capable of stopping person-to-person transmission of polio.

Among the speakers at the ceremony was professor of epidemiology H. F. Maassab, who received his doctorate in public health from SPH in 1955 and who, like Salk, worked with Francis on developing an influenza vaccine.

Maassab has developed a nasal spray influenza vaccine using a live attenuated (weakened) virus. The vaccine, which will be marketed by Aviron under the name FluMist, is in the final stages of FDA approval. It is expected to be available in 2000 or 2001.