[Narrator:] This could be the story of the beginning of the end of rubella.
The viral disease that causes congenital defects.
In June 1969, the first rubella vaccine was licensed.
This ended an eight-year search for a vaccine
by scientists and physicians in university medical centers,
private industry, and government.
The first breakthrough came in 1961
at Harvard and Walter Reed, with the simultaneous isolation
and identification of the elusive rubella virus.
By 1965, two scientists at the National Institutes of Health
had developed an experimental vaccine
which seemed to prevent rubella, yet not cause or transmit the disease.
Produced from live rubella virus, passed 77 times
through green monkey kidney tissue cultures,
the vaccine was called HPV 77.
At NIH, the experimental vaccine was tested for purity
and was grown in cell cultures in quantity
to permit extensive laboratory studies.
Before the vaccine could be given to humans,
it was tested repeatedly in hundreds of laboratory animals
by doctors Harry Meyer and Paul Parkman,
the two NIH scientists who developed HPV 77.
At the children's colony in Conway, Arkansas,
the vaccine was first given to humans:
16 susceptible girls living in a quarantine cottage.
After parents and school officials gave permission
for the study, eight girls were inoculated.
The others served as controls.
The results were encouraging.
The eight who were vaccinated developed high antibody levels
but no symptoms, nor did they transmit the infection
to the controls.
But to speed the antibody tests, a new detection procedure
was needed.
Once again, the research of doctors Meyer and Parkman
was successful.
Their new technique, known as the HI test
in the hands of qualified technicians,
now makes possible the reliable measurement
of rubella antibody titers in three hours.
Previous tests required three weeks
and were far too complex for general use.
In 1967, the federal government began its massive field trials
in the cities from Danbury, Connecticut to Los Angeles.
Inoculations were given, detailed records were kept on vaccinees and controls,
and follow-up blood studies gave evidence of antibody response.
Similar studies were done on Taiwan,
where the vaccine proved 90 percent effective during an epidemic.
In all, the trials involved scores of physicians, nurses,
laboratory technicians, and nearly 50,000 children.
Now with an approved vaccine,
prospects are good that the birth defects of rubella can be eliminated.
It depends on the medical profession
and the parents of America.