Is the polio virus on the way to being eradicated? While the virus is no longer endemic (i.e. permanently present) in only two countries of the world (Afghanistan and Pakistan), the fight against polio could come to an end. But to come to the end of this epidemic, it is important to continue the vaccination campaigns for prevent the virus from re-emerging. This is why Sanofi Pasteur laboratories have developed a new vaccine called “inactivated polio vaccine” (IPV): ShanIPV®. IPV will be integrated into the Indian infant immunization schedule and is expected to benefit more than 20 million newborns per year. “With the introduction of IPV in India’s immunization schedule, the world moves closer to polio eradication“said Olivier Charmeil, Chairman and CEO of Sanofi Pasteur. in a press release.
Inactivated vaccine versus live vaccine
This new IPV replaces the administration of the oral polio vaccine (OPV) which consists of a few drops of solutions generally absorbed on a lump of sugar. Unlike OPV which contains a live virus, IPV consists of an inactivated virus. Replacing OPV with IPV is proof of the success of the fight against polio: the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends using an inactivated vaccine in areas where the wild virus is no longer circulating . India was declared polio-free in 2014.
Compulsory vaccination in France
The WHO recalled last October that polio is a very contagious viral disease which affects the nervous system and which mainly affects children under five years old. It causes irreversible paralysis in one in 200 cases. Among paralyzed patients, “5 to 10% die when their respiratory muscles cease to function”, according to the WHO. Thanks to mass vaccination, the number of polio cases has fallen by more than 99% since 1988, when the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPI) was launched.
In France, the polio vaccine is included in the DTP injection (for Diphtheria Tetanus Poliomyelitis). This vaccine (primary vaccination of infants at two months then boosters at four and eleven months and six and thirteen years) is the only one to be compulsory in the vaccination schedule.
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