Madison Clarke
The oral polio vaccine (OPV) was developed by physician and microbiologist Albert Sabin in the 1950s. The first polio vaccine arrived at the Mayo Clinic on April 13, 1955, a day after it was licensed in the US. The inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) is given as a series of four shots at 2 months, 4 months, 6 to 18 months, and again at 4 to 6 years of age. While there is no federal law requiring the polio vaccine, all 50 states and the District of Columbia mandate that children entering childcare or public schools be vaccinated. The OPV vaccine was discontinued in the US in 2000, although it is still used in many other countries.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Year of first polio vaccine | 1955 |
| Countries that first used the oral polio vaccine | Hungary (1959), Czechoslovakia (1960), Cuba (1962) |
| Types of polio vaccines | Inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV), Weakened poliovirus vaccine (OPV) |
| Countries where polio still exists | Afghanistan, Pakistan |
| Number of polio cases in the US in the 20th century | 16,000 |
| Number of polio cases reported in 1988 | 350,000 |
| Number of polio cases reported in 2018 | 33 |
| Number of OPV-associated paralysis cases per million doses | 3 |
| Number of paralysis cases per million polio infections | 5,000 |
| Number of doses for unvaccinated adults | 3 |
| Time between the first and second doses for unvaccinated adults | 4 weeks |
| Time between the second and third doses for unvaccinated adults | 6-12 months |
| Number of doses for vaccinated adults at increased risk of exposure | 1 |
| Year OPV vaccine was stopped in the US | 2000 |
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What You'll Learn
- The first polio vaccine was made available in 1955
- The OPV vaccine was stopped in the US in 2000
- The IPV vaccine is the only vaccine given to prevent polio in the US
- The OPV vaccine is still used in many parts of the world
- The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends all children be fully vaccinated against polio
The first polio vaccine was made available in 1955
Before the first poliovirus vaccine was made available in 1955, children affected by polio depended on iron lungs for their survival. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, frequent epidemics saw polio become the most feared disease globally. The disease was highly infectious, mostly affecting young children and attacking their nervous systems, leading to spinal and respiratory paralysis, and sometimes even death. A major outbreak in New York City in 1916 killed over 2,000 people, and the worst recorded US outbreak in 1952 killed over 3,000. Many who survived the disease faced lifelong consequences, including deformed limbs that required leg braces, crutches, or wheelchairs. Some needed breathing devices like the iron lung, an artificial respirator invented for polio patients. By the mid-20th century, the poliovirus had spread worldwide, killing or paralysing over half a million people annually. With no cure and epidemics on the rise, there was an urgent need for a vaccine.
The first polio vaccine was developed by Dr Jonas E. Salk and his colleagues. It arrived at the Mayo Clinic on April 13, 1955, one day after it was licensed in the US. The Salk vaccine was 60-70% effective against PV1 (poliovirus type 1), over 90% effective against PV2 and PV3, and 94% effective against the development of bulbar polio. Following its licensing, children's vaccination campaigns were launched in the US, and the annual number of polio cases fell drastically, from 35,000 in 1953 to 5,600 by 1957.
The first polio vaccine was an inactivated poliovirus given by injection (IPV). It was created by killing the poliovirus with a chemical (formaldehyde). The dead virus cannot reproduce and therefore cannot revert to natural polio or cause paralysis. However, IPV did not stop the poliovirus from spreading between children. The injected form of the IPV used between 1955 and 1963 was found to be contaminated with the simian virus-40 (SV40), which was discovered in rhesus monkey kidney cells used to prepare the poliovirus vaccines.
A second type of polio vaccine, the oral polio vaccine (OPV), was developed by physician and microbiologist Albert Sabin. OPV was live-attenuated, using a weakened form of the virus that could be administered orally, as drops or on a sugar cube. This ease of administration made it ideal for mass vaccination campaigns. OPV, on the other hand, interrupted the chain of transmission, making it a powerful tool to stop polio outbreaks. In 1959, ten million children in the Soviet Union received the Sabin oral vaccine, and he was awarded the medal of the Order of Friendship of Peoples, the Soviet Union's highest civilian honour. Sabin's oral vaccine came into commercial use in 1961, and it soon supplanted Salk's injected vaccine.
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The OPV vaccine was stopped in the US in 2000
The oral polio vaccine (OPV) was developed by physician and microbiologist Albert Sabin. It uses a live, weakened form of the poliovirus, which is administered orally, either as drops or on a sugar cube. The ease of administering the oral vaccine made it an ideal candidate for mass vaccination campaigns.
The first polio vaccine was made available in the US in 1955, developed by Dr Jonas E. Salk and his colleagues. However, with the Salk vaccine in wide use by the late 1950s, there was little interest in the US in testing Sabin's new kind of vaccine. Sabin's OPV was therefore tested outside the US, in Mexico, the Soviet Union, the Congo, and Poland. In 1959, ten million children in the Soviet Union received the Sabin oral vaccine.
Despite the success of OPV in other countries, the US stopped using the vaccine in 2000. Instead, the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) is now the only vaccine given to prevent polio in the US. IPV is given as a series of four shots at 2 months, 4 months, 6 to 18 months, and again at 4 to 6 years of age.
The use of OPV has been discontinued in the US due to the potential adverse effects of the vaccine. OPV contains a weakened form of the poliovirus, which can, in rare cases, recombine to a form that causes neurological infection and paralysis. Inactivated polio vaccines are very safe and can be given to pregnant women and those with HIV/AIDS. While OPV is no longer used in the US, it is still administered in many parts of the world.
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The IPV vaccine is the only vaccine given to prevent polio in the US
The inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) is the only vaccine given to prevent polio in the US. IPV is administered as an injection, and it is safe for children and adults, including pregnant women and those with HIV/AIDS. The vaccine is very effective, and two doses are at least 90% effective in preventing polio, while three doses are at least 99% effective.
The IPV vaccine was developed by Jonas Salk, who tested a killed-virus vaccine on himself and his family in 1953. Salk then tested it on 1.6 million children in Canada, Finland, and the US. The success of the IPV vaccine was announced in 1955, and it has been used to protect millions of people from polio since then. The IPV vaccine replaced the oral polio vaccine (OPV) in the US and many other developed countries in the 1990s, mainly due to the small risk of vaccine-derived polio associated with OPV.
OPV was first used because it was inexpensive and easy to administer, as it could be given orally as drops on the tongue or a sugar cube. However, OPV contains a weakened live vaccine, and while it can create immunity in the vaccinated individual, it can also spread to others through saliva or faeces. In rare cases, the live virus in OPV can cause polio in unvaccinated individuals or those with weakened immune systems, leading to paralysis.
In contrast, IPV is made by killing the poliovirus with a chemical (formaldehyde), which prevents it from reproducing and causing paralysis. While IPV does not stop the poliovirus from spreading between people, it protects the vaccinated individual. IPV is usually given as a series of four shots at 2 months, 4 months, 6 to 18 months, and again at 4 to 6 years of age. However, the duration of immunity induced by IPV is not known with certainty, and some adults at high risk of polio infection may require a booster dose.
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The OPV vaccine is still used in many parts of the world
The oral polio vaccine (OPV) is no longer administered in the United States and several other countries due to the rare risk of causing vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis (VAPP) in one out of every 2.7 million doses. This risk is especially pronounced in people with weakened immune systems or those who are unvaccinated. However, OPV is still used in many parts of the world where the risk of poliovirus infection remains high.
OPV offers several advantages over the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV). Firstly, it is easy to administer, as it is given by mouth as a liquid, eliminating the need for sterile syringes. This makes OPV ideal for mass vaccination campaigns. Secondly, OPV provides longer-lasting immunity than IPV, as it confers both humoral and cell-mediated immunity. While two doses of IPV provide 90% protection, one dose of OPV produces immunity to all three poliovirus serotypes in approximately 50% of recipients.
The ease of administering OPV has made it a crucial tool in global polio eradication efforts. Countries like Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Cuba adopted OPV in their nationwide immunization programmes, successfully eliminating polio. OPV interrupts the chain of transmission by stopping the spread of the virus before it can replicate in the intestines and reach others. This unique ability to prevent person-to-person transmission is vital in the fight against polio, as the poliovirus has no known long-term carrier state or non-primate reservoir in nature.
Despite its benefits, OPV does come with certain side effects, including headache, abdominal pain, fever, and diarrhea. Additionally, the live virus in OPV can circulate in under-vaccinated populations, potentially reverting to a virulent form and causing paralytic polio. This was observed in 2017, when more cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV) were recorded than the wild poliovirus. To address this, the trivalent OPV containing all three viral strains was phased out in 2016 and replaced with a bivalent vaccine targeting types 1 and 3, supplemented with monovalent type 2 OPV in regions with known cVDPV type 2 circulation.
In summary, while OPV is no longer used in certain countries due to safety concerns, it remains a valuable tool in the ongoing battle against polio in many parts of the world. Its ease of administration and ability to interrupt transmission chains make it a powerful weapon in global eradication efforts, particularly in regions with a high risk of poliovirus infection.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends all children be fully vaccinated against polio
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that all children be fully vaccinated against polio. This is because polio is a highly contagious virus that can cause permanent paralysis and even death. While there is no cure for polio, vaccination is a safe and effective way to prevent the disease.
The two types of polio vaccines are the inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) and the oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV). IPV is given as a series of four shots, with the first dose administered at 2 months, the second at 4 months, the third between 6 and 18 months, and a final booster vaccination at 4 to 6 years of age. In some countries, a fifth vaccination is given during adolescence. IPV is the only polio vaccine that has been administered in the United States since 2000, as it eliminates the risk of polio variants that can occur with OPV.
OPV, on the other hand, is a live-attenuated vaccine that can be given orally as drops or on a sugar cube. It uses a weakened form of the poliovirus that replicates in the intestines of vaccine recipients. OPV has the added benefit of interrupting the chain of transmission, as it can be shed by vaccinated individuals and provide contact immunity to others. However, the ease of administering OPV orally makes it ideal for mass vaccination campaigns, especially in countries where the risk of infection is high.
The history of polio vaccination dates back to the late 1940s and early 1950s, when frequent epidemics made polio the most feared disease in the world. The first polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas E. Salk and colleagues, was licensed in the United States in 1955. A second oral polio vaccine (OPV) was later developed by Dr. Albert B. Sabin and licensed in the US, with further trials taking place internationally. In 1988, the World Health Assembly passed a resolution to eradicate polio, and a global effort led by WHO, UNICEF, and the Rotary Foundation began, relying on the Sabin-Chumakov OPV.
Today, polio has been eliminated in North and South America, and mass vaccination campaigns have helped to significantly reduce the incidence of polio worldwide. However, the disease still occurs in certain parts of the world, and the risk of an outbreak remains if vaccination rates decrease. Therefore, it is crucial to maintain high vaccination coverage to protect children from this devastating disease and work towards the ultimate goal of global polio eradication.
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Frequently asked questions
The use of the OPV (oral polio vaccine) was stopped in the US in 2000, although it is still used in many parts of the world.
OPV, or oral polio vaccine, is a weakened poliovirus given by mouth. It was developed by physician and microbiologist Albert Sabin.
IPV, or inactivated poliovirus, is given by injection. It is the only vaccine given to prevent polio in the US.
While there is no federal law requiring the polio vaccine, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have state laws requiring children entering childcare or public schools to be vaccinated.
The first polio vaccine was licensed in the US in 1955.
