The Origins of AIDS: The Polio Vaccine (2004)

We’re still unsure how the AIDS epidemic began. Between 1957 and 1960, Hilary Koprowski was researching a cure for polio. He manufactured a vaccine from monkeys, probably chimps, and injected it into almost one million Africans. This award-winning documentary suggests that as scientists tried to rid the world of one disease, they may have caused another epidemic. As a source material, this authoritative news report shows evidence for a narrative exploring the origins of HIV (and AIDS) as the consequence of a vaccination program in West Africa that utilized live virus cultures grown in cells retrieved from monkeys and apes. Witness News Program Produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Les origines du SIDA Documentary about the hypothesis that HIV may have been caused by mass vaccination against Polio, in Congo, between 1957 and 1960. Directors Peter Chappell Catherine Peix Eyrolle Writers Peter Chappell Stéphane Horel Stars Cecil Fox Simon Wain-Hobson Joseph Vandepitte Storyline From the hyphotesis of British journalist Edward Hooper, the film reopens the explosively controversial subject of the origins of AIDS, zeroing in specifically on his fiercely contested proposition that the HIV virus was first transmitted to children in the Belgian Congo via contaminated polio vaccine. Details Release date May 2, 2004 (United States) Countries of origin CanadaBelgiumFranceSpainUnited Kingdom Languages EnglishFrench Also known as The Origins of AIDS Production companies Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)Channel 4 Television Corporation Frame 2 THE ORIGINS OF AIDS Les origines du SIDA Directed by Peter Chappell, Catherine Peix Eyrolle Canada, Belgium, 2004 Documentary 92 Synopsis Journalist Edward Hooper presents his controversial theory that the spread of the AIDS virus may have been caused by a rushed development of the polio vaccine in the 50’s Congo.