In 1955, Thomas Francis announced the safety of Salk's polio vaccine, leading to a swift vaccination rollout, but the Cutter Incident revealed severe contamination issues, resulting in paralysis cases and a halt to the program. Following this, Sabin developed an oral polio vaccine (OPV) in 1962, which, despite its effectiveness and ease of use, posed risks of vaccine-associated paralysis due to viral mutations. Global vaccination efforts to eradicate wild polio were initiated in 1988; however, challenges in less prioritized regions and significant costs highlighted underlying healthcare issues.