Abstract:
In 1960, Austria initiated diplomatic relations across the Iron Curtain to explore the possibility of ordering the oral polio vaccine (OPV) produced in the Soviet Union. The live attenuated vaccine promised to enhance immunity in communities and was both easier to administer and much cheaper than the inactivated vaccine (IPV). The American scientist Albert Sabin and his Russian ally Mikhail Chumakow had tested the new vaccine in large field trials across the USSR at the end of the 1950s. The satisfactory results were also noticed in Austria. Not only did the media report on the prospect of eradicating polio but the members of the Supreme Medical Council and other leading Austrian physicians also discussed Austria’s stance towards polio prophylaxis. This paper uses the minutes of the Supreme Medical Council as well as related ministerial sources to establish the main conflict points in the debates surrounding the establishment of a national vaccination programme. Although negotiations with the USSR were eventually unsuccessful, the case of Austrian vaccine diplomacy sheds light on national and international interests and cooperation in the fight against polio during the Cold War.