The Virus and the Vaccine

This revelatory account about contaminated polio vaccines is “a deeply disturbing chapter in the recent history of science” (Stephen S. Hall).

Jonas Salk's polio vaccine has taken on an almost legendary quality as a medical miracle, for it largely eradicated one of the most feared diseases of the twentieth century. But the story of the vaccine has a dark side, one that has never been fully told before.

Between 1954 and 1963, close to 98 million Americans received polio vaccinations contaminated with a carcinogenic monkey virus, now known as SV40. A concerted government effort downplayed the incident, and it was generally accepted that although oncogenic to laboratory animals, SV40 was harmless to humans.

But now SV40 in showing up in human cancers, and prominent researchers are demanding a serious public health response to this forgotten polio vaccine contaminant. A gripping medical detective story, The Virus and the Vaccine raises major questions about vaccine policy.

“Millions of Americans are unaware that government officials and leading scientists played Russian roulette with their health in the 1960s . . . [A] fascinating, meticulously-researched account of the coverup, and its possible long-term health effects.” -Stephen S. Hall, New York Times Magazine science writer and author of Merchants of Immortality

“This well-researched, well-documented book unfurls a compelling scientific saga. . . . Not only that, it's written with the zing of a medical thriller, featuring fully realized characters, dramatic conflicts, high-level politics and scientific egos big enough to levitate Stone Mountain.” -Atlanta Journal-Constitution