a. Ebola 

In 2019, Cincinnati Children’s investigated a new Ebola vaccine that could protect against all four of the virus species that attack humans. A vaccine would help eradicate the disease that has killed nearly 13,000 people since its first outbreak in 1976. 

d. Rotavirus 

Drs. Ward and Bernstein’s vaccine is a powerful tool to fight rotavirus, the leading cause of diarrhea in children, which itself is the leading cause of global child mortality. Rotavirus vaccines save tens of thousands of lives annually. 

c. Polio (live-virus) 

Worldwide adoption of Dr. Sabin’s live-virus vaccine nearly eliminated the crippling disease. Thanks to the vaccine, today it is estimated that 17 million people are walking that otherwise would have been paralyzed. 

b. 1938 

In 1938, the Scientific Advisory Committee in New York recommended that Cincinnati Children’s invest in the study of viruses, thus heralding a “Golden Age” of discovery and innovation. Drs. Josef Warkany, Human Genetics; Albert Sabin, Virology; Clark West, Nephrology; Fred Silverman, Radiology; and Samuel Kaplan, Cardiology, made up the investigational dream team that would revolutionize pediatric care.

a. Spanish Flu 

The 1918 “Spanish Flu” pandemic was the most severe in recent history. It infected 500 million people — about a third of the world’s population at the time — in four successive waves. The CDC estimates that 675,000 Americans and 50 million worldwide died. 

a. Herbert Hoover

U.S. President Herbert Hoover sent a telegram congratulating Cincinnati Children’s in 1931 for being the first pediatric hospital in the country to dedicate a center solely to research. It would set the stage for a long tradition of intradisciplinary research collaboration and unrelenting focus on curing childhood diseases.

c. Polio (live-virus) 

Dr. Albert Sabin’s teaspoon of cherry-flavored polio vaccine inspired the song “A Spoonful of Sugar.” Cincinnati was the location of the first clinical test in the United States for the vaccine.

b. 4

Four sites were selected in the U.S. to participate in the clinical trials to prevent COVID-19. Cincinnati Children’s tested vaccines from Pfizer in adults and adolescents and AstraZeneca in adults.

a. Birds

Avian flu was first reported in humans in 2013. The H7N9 influenza strain causes severe respiratory illness and is spread mainly been between birds and humans or through human exposed to environments contaminated by birds. Cincinnati Children’s collaborated on one of two national studies to evaluate a vaccine to battle the virus.

d. 1994

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases named Cincinnati Children’s a Vaccine Treatment and Evaluation Unit in 1994. Ever since, the medical center has been in the forefront of our national effort to combat infectious diseases and lead the development and testing of vaccines that threaten the health and lives of millions of people in the U.S. and throughout the world.