Polio was a big problem for most of the 1950s since there was no vaccine program until 1955.
http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/poliotimeline.htm1952 - There are 58, 000 cases of polio in the United States, the most ever. Early versions of the Salk vaccine , using killed polio virus, are successful with small samples of patients at the Watson Home for Crippled Children and the Polk State School, a Pennsylvania facility for individuals with mental retardation.
1953 - Amid continued "polio hysteria," there are 35, 000 cases of polio in the United States.
1954 - Massive field trials of the Salk vaccine are sponsored by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.
1955 - News of the successful vaccine trials is announced by Dr. Thomas Francis Jr. of the University of Michigan at a formal press conference held April 12 in Ann Arbor (the site where the research data from the field trials had been gathered and analyzed). A nationwide vaccination program is quickly started.
1957 - After a mass immunization campaign promoted by the March of Dines, there are only about 5600 cases of polio in the United States.
1958 and 1959 - Field trials prove the Sabin oral vaccine, which uses live, attenuated (weakened) virus, to be effective.
1962 - The Salk vaccine is replaced by the Sabin oral vaccine, which is not only superior in terms of ease of administration, but also provides longer-lasting immunization.