The Cutter Incident: How America's First Polio Vaccine Led to the Growing Vaccine Crisis

251 Pages·2005·1.01 MB·English

by  Dr. Paul A. Offit M.D.

THE CUTTER INCIDENT

THE CUTTER
INCIDENT
How America’s First Polio Vaccine
Led to the Growing Vaccine Crisis
m.d.
Paul A. Offit,
Yale University Press New Haven and London
Copyright ∫ 2005 by Paul A. Offit, M.D.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form
(beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and
except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers.
Set in Stemple Garamond type by Keystone Typesetting, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America by R. R. Donnelley & Sons.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Offit, Paul A.
The Cutter incident : how America’s first polio vaccine led to the growing vaccine crisis /
Paul A. Offit.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 0-300-10864-8 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Poliomyelitis vaccine—History. 2. Poliomyelitis—Vaccination—United States—History.
3. Cutter Laboratories. 4. Vaccines—United States. I. Title.
qr189.5.p6o44 2005
614.5%49%0973—dc22
2005040105
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee
on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Bonnie
and for our children,
Will and Emily

The mass and majesty of this world, all
That carries weight and always weighs the same
Lay in the hands of others; they were small
And could not hope for help, and no help came
W. H. Auden

Contents
Prologue xi
Introduction 1
chapter 1
Little White Coffins 4
chapter 2
Back to the Drawing Board 19
chapter 3
The Grand Experiment 44
chapter 4
How Does It Feel to Be a Killer of Children? 58
chapter 5
A Man-Made Polio Epidemic 83
chapter 6
What Went Wrong at Cutter Laboratories 105
chapter 7
Cutter in Court 132
chapter 8
Cigars, Parasites, and Human Toes 154