On Apr. 12, 1955, a convocation was held at the University of Michigan (UM), where Dr. Thomas Francis Jr., director of the Poliomyelitis Vaccine Evaluation Center at the UM School of Public Health announced that the killed poliovirus vaccine developed at the University of Pittsburgh was ﾓsafe, effective and potent.ﾔ Headlines around the world proclaimed, “The Vaccine Works!.”

The news was cause for celebration by the millions of Americans who had donated to the March of Dimes in the fight against polio.