The current eradication plan looks something like this. By the end of 2015, every country will include at least one dose of IPV as part of each child’s routine schedule of jabs. In most of the world (especially in places where polio is still a problem), these injections will be supplemented by plenty of doses of oral vaccine – essential for inducing the transmission-blocking gut immunity required to halt the spread of polio. If all goes to plan, this will bring an end to all cases caused by wild polioviruses. Good news, of course, but we’re not there yet. The rare cases of vaccine-related disease will still be an issue, especially the ones that can spread from person to person. So next we have to stop using OPV altogether. When we are confident that enough children are receiving IPV, and that immunity levels are sufficient to prevent the spread of any lingering viruses, it will be necessary to stop using the very vaccine that has helped us get rid of 99% of the world’s polio. Oral vaccination will be brought to a halt, and IPV left to stand guard. Both the oral and injected polio vaccines are indispensable to these eradication plans,
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 23:07:30 +0000
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