After a polio outbreak in the Marshalls, crash Sabin vaccination covered nearly all of Ponape Island, then Kusaie, Truk and Ponape’s outer atolls.

What happened

Polio struck Kwajalein and Majuro in the Marshalls early in 1963, with deaths there. A US Public Health Service team and Ponape’s own health staff ran a crash program with the oral Sabin vaccine; by early March no case had been found in Ponape district, and vaccine was sent to Kusaie, the outer islands and Truk.