1

Triumph and Tragedy: The Cutter Incident

Shelby Nebeker, Kaelyn Ren, Rachel Ruben, Heather Saxe

Senior Group Website
Annotated Bibliography
 2

Annotated Bibliography
Primary Sources:

“Charts and graphs with figures on polio cases in the United States.” ​Eisenhower.
archives.gov​, 24 Aug. 2011, https://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/research
/online_documents/salk/Salk_A.pdf. Accessed 12 Nov. 2018.
This source provides various charts and graphs with statistics of the number of polio
cases across the United States. The charts and graphs have information prior to the Cutter
Incident as well as during the incident. The first graph is used to show the number of
polio cases in the United States before and during the Cutter Incident, showing its effect
on the population.

“Dr. Jonas Salk and the Polio Vaccine (Stock Footage / Archival Footage) - Video
Dailymotion.” ​Dailymotion​, 9 July 2015, www.dailymotion.com/ video/x2xg0l3.
Accessed 20 Dec. 2018.
This video is stock footage of Jonas Salk and the Polio Vaccine. It shows the study of the
polio virus as well as the creation of the polio vaccine and the relief and excitement that
the people felt after hearing the news of an end to the polio virus. This aided in
understanding the severity of the polio outbreak as well as how the public yearned for a
cure to this horrible disease.

Full Text of "Passing"​, London : F. Warne ; New York : Scribner, Welford, and
Armstrong, archive.org/stream/adualtrusttrans02cuttrich/adualtrusttrans02
cuttrich_djvu.txt. Accessed 23 Nov. 2018.
This interview with Cutter Laborites owner, E.A. Cutter provided lots of information on
the how and why the incident took place and the steps the Laboratory took to regulate and
properly develop the Cutter Polio Vaccine. E.A. Cutter gave lots of insight and
information that was very useful to the background and impact elements of the Cutter
Incident timeline.

Hagerty, J. C. “Statement by the President.”​Eisenhower Presidential Library,​ 31 May,

1955, externalfile:drive-10e1a5fcca4112a096bc6f963df295dd6291de47/root/Salk_G.pdf.
Accessed 1 Nov. 2018.
This source provides a statement made by President Eisenhower regarding the Cutter
Incident. It was used to show the immediate responses made by the government to ensure
that actions were being taken to prevent something as severe as the Cutter Incident to
occur again. This helped us understand how grave the Cutter Incident truly was and the
toll it took on the government, the doctors, and scientists involved in the development of
 3

the vaccine.

“Press Release.” ​Eisenhower.archives.gov​, 24 Aug. 2011, https://eisenhower.archives.gov

/research/online_documents/salk/Salk_M.pdf. Accessed 3 Nov. 2018.
This source provided us with immediate action taken by the Public Health Service in
response to the Cutter Incident. This helped us understand to what extent the Cutter
Incident had impacted the United States, not just in California. It had information that
gave recommendations as well as warnings regarding vaccines and its effectiveness.

“Recalibrating Vaccination Laws.” ​Parasidis​, 2018, www.bu.edu/bulawreview/files/2018

/01/PARASIDIS.pdf.
This source provided us with information on the actual vaccine regulations and vaccine
“Acts” that took place in response to the Cutter Incident and many other vaccine
travesties. This source describes in detail the steps that were taken to not only pass the
laws and acts, but how they had an impact on the medical field. The vaccine regulations
saved many lives and brought awareness and publicity about the precision that must be
present when producing vaccines.

"Salk, Jonas: Holding Vaccine." ​American History​, ABC-CLIO, 2018,

americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/1895395. Accessed 14 Nov. 2018.
This picture displays Jonas Salk holding two large bottles containing the polio vaccine.
This was used to give the audience a visual understanding of the effort that was put into
the development of the polio vaccine. It also helped us understand who was responsible
for the creation of this vaccine that led to the eradication of polio.

“The Cutter Incident.” ​VAXOPEDIA​, VAXOPEDIA, 2017, vaxopedia.org/tag/the-cutter-

incident/. Accessed 30 Nov. 2018.
The image of Dr. Alexander Langmuir and his Polio Surveillance Unit was used to
provide a visual of him explaining to others a possible resolution to the Cutter Incident.
In the image, he is pointing to a document and explaining to two other men about how the
Polio Surveillance Unit would help their situation since it allows people to oversee the
workers.

"The Wyeth Problem." ​Archives.gov​, https://www.archives.gov/atlanta/exhibits/

item469-full.html. Accessed 14 Nov. 2018.
These images are statements made by President Eisenhower addressing the Cutter
Incident. He talks about new regulations that were being put in place to make vaccines
safer. These images were used to show what the president said about the issue. It helps
the audience to understand what actions were being taken due to the Cutter Incident.
 4

Secondary Sources:

“Axelsson. The Cutter Incident and the Development of a Swedish Polio Vaccine,
1952-1957.” ​Cirugía Plástica Ibero-Latinoamericana​, http://scielo.isciii.es/scielo
.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0211-95362012000200003. Accessed 20 Nov. 2018.
The source provided information on how the Cutter Incident affected people and nations
outside of the United States of America. This article focuses on Sweden and how the
country responded to the news of the Cutter Incident. This caused for Sweden to put a
halt on vaccine distribution of both the Sweden and American vaccine. Many tests were
conducted to make sure that a tragedy like the Cutter Incident would not occur. This
eventually led to not only vaccine regulation in Sweden, but a fear of vaccination
overseas as well.

“Edward Ahern Cutter.” ​Prabook.com,​ 2018, prabook.com/web/edward_ahern.cutter

/1239488. Accessed 21 Nov. 2018.
This source provides information about the Cutter Laboratories owner, E.A. Cutter. The
source showed background on how Cutter got involved with the laboratories, his career
span, education, and more. The information from the source helps gain a new perspective
on E.A. Cutter and his family.

Fitzpatrick, M. ​The Cutter Incident: How America's First Polio Vaccine Led to a
Growing Vaccine Crisis​. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
/pmc/articles/PMC1383764/. Accessed 18 Nov. 2018.
The source provided information and quantitative data concerning the impact of the
Cutter Incident. The number of children affected, paralyzed, and killed were listed which
served as a indicator on how serious the Cutter Incident really was. This source was used
for its historical background it provided and its unique details that was not found
anywhere else.

“Global Health.” ​Centers for Disease Control and Prevention​, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, 28 Nov. 2017, www.cdc.gov/polio/us/. Accessed 15 Nov. 2018.
The source provided recent information on polio being eradicated from the United States.
The disease has been eradicated in the United States since the incident. The information
was used in the website as a lasting success of the Cutter Incident.

"Historical Vaccine Safety Concerns Concerns | Vaccine Safety | CDC." ​Cdc.gov,​ 2 Feb.
2018, https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/concerns-history.html. Accessed 14
Nov. 2018.
 5

The source provided information on the issues regarding the manufacturing process of the
polio vaccine that was distributed through the Cutter Laboratories which improves
students understanding of what went wrong when manufacturing the vaccine. The source
was used to explain the errors in the manufacturing process which eventually led to the
tragedy of a fear of vaccinations.

"Jonas Salk: the People’s Hero." ​American History​, ABC-CLIO, 2018, americanhistory.
abc-clio.com/Search/Display/1187280. Accessed 8 Nov. 2018.
The source provided background on the Polio Vaccine creator, Jonas Salk. The
information was about how he fought Polio and the awards he won. Without Salk, the
Cutter Incident would not have had the positive impact that it has today. The source has a
great deal of information about how he tested his vaccine and when he was successful.

Juskewitch, J. Tapia, C., Windebank, A. ​“Lessons from the Salk Polio Vaccine: Methods
for and Risks of Rapid Translation”.​ (2010). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.
nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2928990/. Accessed 21 Nov. 2018.
This article regarding steps taken to prevent a repeat of the Cutter Incident discusses how
the incident has impacted the medical and scientific fields in today’s society. This helped
us understand what the long term impacts were from the Cutter Incident. The article also
discusses the development of the vaccine, the trials done, and the lessons that were
learned after the incident.

Nathanson, Neal. "CUTTER INCIDENT POLIOMYELITIS FOLLOWING

FORMALDEHYDE-INACTIVATED POLIOVIRUS VACCINATION IN THE
UNITED STATES DURING THE SPRING OF 1955: I. BACKGROUND 1 2 ." ​OUP
Academic​, 1 Jul. 1963, https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/78/1/16/ 127706. Accessed 1
Nov. 2018.
This documentation discusses the Cutter Incident and the events that occurred thereafter.
It also discussed specific polio cases that were caused by the vaccines distributed by
Cutter Laboratories. This helped us gain a better understanding of the background of the
polio outbreak and what Cutter Laboratories were involved in regarding polio. Also, the
article discussed immediate actions taken that helped us gain a better understanding of
how the different services reacted to the Cutter Incident.

“Office of the Associate Director for Science (OADS).” ​Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention,​ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 15 June 2017,
www.cdc.gov/od/science/wewerethere/polio/index.html. Accessed 15 Nov. 2018.
This article was used to give us more knowledge on the Cutter Incident. It helped give us
a better understanding of what went wrong, causing the Cutter Incident, and why it
 6

happened in the first place. It discussed the lack of regulations in laboratories as well as
lack of knowledge on proper safety procedures.

PubMed Central (PMC). "The Cutter Incident: How America's First Polio Vaccine Led to
a Growing Vaccine Crisis." ​PubMed Central (PMC),​ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.
gov/pmc/articles/PMC1383764/. Accessed 13 Nov. 2018.
The source provided information on the outcome of the Cutter Incident such as the
number of injuries and deaths people have experienced. It also has information about
what went wrong when manufacturing the vaccine in the laboratory. This source was
used to explain the manufacturing error and the effect it had.

Silberner, Joanne. “Jonas Salk's Polio Vaccine Makes A Comeback.” ​NPR,​ NPR, 12 Apr.
2015,www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/04/12/398806324/jonas-salks-polio-vacci
ne-makes-a-comeback. Accessed 16 Nov. 2018.
The image was of three men in the shipping room at Cutter Laboratories. In the image,
the men were labeling packages of the polio vaccine. The image was used to provide a
visual of the shipping process of the vaccine.

“The 60th Anniversary of the Polio Vaccine: It Was Seen as an Absolute Miracle and
Blessing.” ​American Council on Science and Health,​ www.acsh.org/news/2015/04/14/the
-60th-anniversary-of-the-polio-vaccine-it-was-seen-as-an-absolute-miracle-and-blessing.
This source provided information on the rise of anti-vaxxers and fear of vaccinations.
Some of this fear is inferred to be rooted from vaccine tragedies, like the Cutter Incident.
The source provides information on how the actions of anti-vaxxers affect those around
them.

“The Cutter Incident.” ​Paul A. Offit, MD​, 2015, paul-offit.com/booksby/the-cutter-in

cident/.
This source is an excerpt from the book, ​The Cutter Incident​. This source provides
information about the impact of the Cutter Incident when it comes to the government,
society, and the medical field. The book also gives information on how the government
dealt with the Cutter Incident. This information was used when we researched the impact
of the Cutter Incident.

“The Cutter Incident: How America’s First Polio Vaccine Lead to a Growing Vaccine
Crisis.” ​NCBI​, 2006, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1383764/.
The source provided statistics on the negative effects the Cutter Incident had on the
population. The statistics were used to prove how badly people were affected by the
Cutter Incident.
 7

“The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program - NVIC.” ​National Vaccine

Information Center (NVIC),​ www.nvic.org/injury-compensation/origihanlaw.aspx.
This source provided in depth information on one of the impacts of the Cutter Incident,
vaccine regulation. The source is a tree for all PDFs coming from the government
concerning the regulations and acts that were put in place concerning the effects of the
Cutter Incident.

“Triumph And Tragedy.” ​The Physician Payments

Sunshine Act,​ www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.25.4.1180. Accessed 12
Nov. 2018.
This source provided us with more information regarding the impacts the Cutter Incident
had on the public as well as some examples of people who were affected. It was used to
give more background regarding the severity of the incident.

“Vaccine Safety.” ​Centers for Disease Control and Prevention​, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, 29 Sept. 2015, www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/ensuring
safety/index.html. Accessed 23 Nov. 2018.
The source provides information on how the United States ensures that vaccines will be
safe. Clinical trials are conducted to help the FDA determine if a vaccine is safe or not.
This information was used as a long lasting success of how vaccine regulations have
improved since the incident.