A communitywide effort to wipe out polio in Carbon County will be launched next month by the Carbon County Medical Society when all residents will be given the first dose of the new Sabin oral polio vaccine.

Three oral vaccines were developed by Dr. Albert B. Sabin of the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine to combat polio, which is caused by any one of three virus types. More than 1,500 cases of polio were reported in 1961, resulting in more than 800 people suffering either death of some sort of paralysis from the disease.

The local society will establish immunization stations in Jim Thorpe, Lansford, Lehighton, Nesquehoning, Palmerton and Weatherly to facilitate easier handling of the crowds at the vaccine centers.