WWII vet recounts vaccines story

Borland tells of volunteering for experimental polio shot

LEWISTOWN -- During the second World War, Lewistown resident David Borland served three years and three months, flying 27 combat missions for the Army Air Corps. When Borland returned to his home in Pittsburgh after the war he didn't stop serving the greater good. He was one of 200 volunteers to take the, then experimental, polio vaccination.

In 1947 the University of Pittsburgh had recruited influenza expert Jonas Salk to develop its virus program. Salk and his research team worked for seven years to develop and effective polio vaccine. Borland was attending the University of Pittsburgh when his class was approached asking for volunteers to test out the vaccine.

"I can't remember the exact year. Might have been the late 40s. They wanted 200 volunteers to get three shots over three months," Borland said. "There were a lot of things I lived through so this was a minor thought."

Borland decided to do what he thought was the right thing to do and volunteered for the shots.

"There wasn't much to it" Borland said, "You went in to this nurse. She gave a brief lecture then gave you the shots. That's it." Borland said he didn't suffer any side effects to the polio vaccine shots nor did any of his fellow classmates who participated in the trials. "I don't remember having any (side effects). If I got sick I'd remember it."

Borland said he wasn't scared or concerned about taking the vaccine since he lived through the smallpox outbreak as a child. Growing up in Pittsburgh, Borland is the youngest of 10 children.

"Back then if anyone in your home had smallpox they put a sign on your door. I guess to warn people." Borland said, "Seeing as there was 10 of us in the house, we went through several years with signs on our door."

Putting things into perspective, Borland figured getting the polio vaccine wouldn't be a big deal.

The university's research team ended up conducting the largest national controlled field trial in history which concluded with the federal government approving the vaccine for the public on April 12, 1955.