United States Releases Albert Sabin Stamp
Also today, March 8 2006, the second stamp this month in the Distinguished Americans series honors Albert Sabin, Virologist. This stamp is issued out of Washington D.C. 20066. Format will be a Single .87-cent definitive stamp.
While a vocal opponent of Salk’s “hasty” methods, Sabin too found a cure for polio. Salk had developed an injection (killed-virus version), Sabin had developed an oral vaccine (live-virus version) against the disease.
Using the polio virus in living form gave way to fear that some patients may actually contract the disease. As improvements were continually made, this fear subsided and today both forms are available. Sabin’s years spent researching polio and the respect he had in the medical community, helped the United States government and eventually other governments develop polio vaccine programs.
