How vaccination became 'hip' in the '50s, thanks to teens American teenagers were a new social phenomenon, and uniquely poised for an iconic polio vaccine push. Elvis Presley gets a polio vaccination backstage, ahead of a taping of the Ed Sullivan show in 1956.Photograph via Associated Press ByErin Blakemore Email It was a Saturday night in Albion, a small city just east of Battle Creek, Michigan, and teenagers lined up for a dance at the school gym. The price of admission? A bared arm. The year was 1958, and this was no ordinary Saturday night social outing: Billed as a “Salk Hop,” it was only open to young people willing to receive a jab of the polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk, or show proof of vaccination.