Although polio is said to be eradicated in the United States, it has not yet been eradicated globally. According to the CDC, certain Asian countries are currently experiencing polio outbreaks, and “enhanced precautions” should be practiced if traveling to these countries. These precautions include receiving the series of polio vaccinations before traveling if you have not yet received them, or receiving a booster dose of the polio vaccine if you were vaccinated a child but are now an adult. The recommended booster dose is the inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV). In addition to the vaccine recommendations before traveling to these countries, the CDC also says that “The World Health Organization recommends that these countries require residents and long-term (4 weeks or more) visitors show proof of polio vaccination before leaving the country.”
The CDC has also developed a strategy in which they believe will be able to eradicate polio across the globe. This plan, known as the “Global Polio Eradication Initiative Polio Endgame Strategy 2019-2023”, intends to rid the world of poliovirus through “eradication, integration, and containment/certification.” Polio has three wild types, and type 2 was announced as eradicated in 2015. The remaining 2 wild types are set to be eradicated through a bivalent OPV that targets types 1 and 3. Once everyone is vaccinated through OPV or IPV, the CDC wishes to contain poliovirus in only research and medical facilities, and slowly diminish the amount of facilities that the virus is held in, until eventually all wild types of poliovirus are eradicated. If done successfully, modified versions of poliovirus will be implemented into IPVs and OPVs to make safer vaccines for global use.
Based on what I have read about the CDC’s plan for global eradication of polio, I believe that they are headed in the right direction, however I believe that it may take longer than anticipated. The main reason for my doubt is the current situation in Asia which I wrote about. There are still people in other countries that are either unavailable to afford the vaccine, or they simply don’t want it. I am unsure of how the CDC and other organizations will be able to afford supplying these vaccines and boosters to everyone in the world. Therefore, there are still hosts that are susceptible to the disease, and outbreak is obviously still a possibility. I believe once we see these outbreaks stop, and the issue of making sure every person is vaccinated, the plan will be able to be executed well.
Works Cited:
Picture obtained from CDC
Christian Brewster Microbiology 