Cutter polio vaccine causes 40,000 cases and forces an NIH oversight overhaul

Cutter Laboratories withdrew its inactivated polio vaccine on April 27, 1955 after the NIH Laboratory of Biologics Control traced paralytic polio cases to live virus in 120,000 doses. The contaminated batches caused 40,000 polio cases, paralyzed 200 children, and killed 10. HEW Secretary Oveta Culp Hobby and NIH Director William Sebrell resigned that summer, and Congress shifted vaccine licensing into a strengthened federal regulatory regime that became the modern FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.