Polio - MSF UK

Polio - MSF UK


Polio - MSF UK

Posted: 28 Oct 2020 06:35 AM PDT

There are two types of vaccine available for prevention: oral polio vaccine (OPV) and the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV). If enough people in a community are immunised, the virus will be deprived of susceptible hosts. This will prevent its spread, causing it to die out.

The oral polio vaccine is easily given, safe and provides potentially life-long protection. It also produces an immune response in the intestine, making it effective in preventing transmission of the virus within communities.

The inactivated polio vaccine is given in four doses as an injection. It is more expensive than the oral vaccine, produces a lower level of immunity, and does not stop transmission from person to person. Oral polio vaccine had therefore been the vaccine of choice in many countries.

However, because the oral vaccine contains attenuated (weakened) polioviruses, on extremely rare occasions, use of OPV can result in cases of polio. For this reason, as soon as a country has eradicated wild polio transmission (polio cases not related to OPV), it is asked to stop using OPV in its routine immunisation programmes.

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