In February 1954, first-, second- and third-grade students from five suburban schools were the first to be inoculated with the new Salk Polio vaccine in a second, expanded pilot trial. These schools were Leetsdale, Emsworth, Sewickley, Fair Oaks and St. James in Sewickley.

These polio vaccine field trials sponsored by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (March of Dimes), are among the largest and most publicised clinical trials ever undertaken. Across the United States, 623,972 schoolchildren were injected with vaccine or placebo, and more than a million others participated as “observed” controls.

The results, announced in 1955, showed good statistical evidence that Jonas Salk’s killed virus preparation was 80-90% effective in preventing paralytic poliomyelitis.