Editor's note: This story was first published Aug. 8, 2021.

As a deeply divisive debate over vaccines turns the tide on a deadly public health risk, some may remember a time when Montana rose united to the challenge amid a similar threat.

In the 1950s and ‘60s Montana was among the leaders in the war against polio and nearly 4,000 Montana children participated in a 1954 field trial of the Salk polio vaccine that became known as “the biggest public health experiment ever,” according to a published article.

Nationwide, the kids became known at the “Polio Pioneers.”

The effort is chronicled in detail in a 20-page story by Todd S. Harwell, Stacey Anderson, Dr. Greg S. Holzman and Dr. Steven D. Helgerson published in 2019 in "Montana: The Magazine of Western History." The names of the autho

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