In 1951, Max Theiler of the Rockefeller Foundation received
the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of
an effective vaccine against yellow fever. A discovery first
reported in the JEM 70 years ago. This was the first, and so
far the only, Nobel Prize given for the development of a virus
vaccine. Recently released Nobel archives now reveal how
the advances in the yellow fever vaccine field were evaluated
more than 50 years ago, and how this led to a prize for Max
Theiler.
Yellow fever and Max Theiler: the
only Nobel Prize for a virus vaccine