The Status of Polio Vaccinations Today

One disease that the United States population, fortunately, does not have to fear is polio. Since 1979, polio has been eradicated from the country¹. However, polio is still prevalent globally in countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, and many African countries². Still today, polio eradication efforts are prevailing worldwide, and a lot of progress has been made in eliminating the disease for good.

In the United States, the primary vaccination used is IPV, or the inactivated polio vaccine, which is injected. Children receive 4 doses of this vaccine spanning from two months old to six years old³. In addition, it protects against all strains of poliovirus by helping the body produce antibodies in the bloodstream⁴. On the other hand, the OPV vaccine, or the oral polio vaccine, is the main vaccine used in the global eradication efforts. It is very cheap compared to the IPV, and unlike the IPV, it allows the vaccine to replicate in the intestines, allowing the patient to develop antibodies to the virus in this way. In addition, it serves as passive immunization in places that lack sanitation and proper hygiene⁵.

As of October 24, 2019, two strains of the polio virus, wild poliovirus type 3 and wild poliovirus type 2, have been eradicated across the globe⁶. This means that there is only one strain, wild poliovirus type 1, that remains in the world. The country most at risk for polio today and that has reported cases of the virus this year is Pakistan, but the countries endemic with polio are Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria⁷. This poses a threat for the virus entering the EU, so it is integral that the European population continues to be vaccinated to halt the spread of the virus⁸.

As a child, I was given a polio vaccine by my primary care doctor, and I never second-guessed that people in other countries, especially those in the Middle East and Asia, did not have the same care during childhood. I think awareness of the polio vaccine needs to be spread and that we should realize how incredible it is that two out of three strains are eradicated worldwide! Awareness about the effectiveness of the vaccine and the implications of not being vaccinated needs to be especially stressed in the anti-vaxxer population, because the eradication of all strains of polio could be completed in our lifetime and this is no small feat. In addition, we should not consider the poliovirus as a thing of the past and realize that many populations do not have the same opportunity to get vaccinated as a child.

Citations:

1. “Polio Elimination in the U.S.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, October 25, 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/polio/what-is-polio/polio-us.html.
2. “This Week.” GPEI, February 19, 2020. http://polioeradication.org/polio-today/polio-now/this-week/.
3. “Polio Vaccination in the U.S.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, September 6, 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/polio/what-is-polio/vaccination.html.
4. “IPV.” GPEI. Accessed February 23, 2020. http://polioeradication.org/polio-today/polio-prevention/the-vaccines/ipv/.
5. “OPV.” GPEI. Accessed February 23, 2020. http://polioeradication.org/polio-today/polio-prevention/the-vaccines/ipv/.
6. “Two out of Three Wild Poliovirus Strains Eradicated.” World Health Organization. World Health Organization, October 24, 2019. https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/two-out-of-three-wild-poliovirus-strains-eradicated.
7. http://polioeradication.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Weekly-GPEI-Polio-Analyses-WPV-20200211.pdf
8. “Update on the Global Polio Situation and Implications for the EU/EEA.” European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, December 6, 2019. https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/news-events/update-global-polio-situation-and-implications-eueea.