The dream of wiping out polio might need a rethink
When public health specialists look at the annual case counts, some see a trend that raises questions about how realistic the goal of a polio-free world might be.
polio vaccine
Polio found in U.K. for the first time in nearly 40 years. Here's what it means
Scientists in Britain have detected multiple versions of the virus in wastewater. Officials say the risk to the public is extremely low and urge people to ensure their polio vaccines are up to date.
Vaccine-derived polio is on the rise. A new vaccine aims to stop the spread
Countries in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia are counting more cases of vaccine-derived polio. One reason for this, say experts, is that vaccination efforts have lapsed during the pandemic.
Pakistan's Polio Playbook Has Lessons For Its COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout
The pandemic has slowed efforts to eradicate the contagious disease. Yet the country's polio effort offers insights on the launch of its coronavirus vaccine campaign.
Pakistan's Polio Fight Provides Structure — And Concern — For COVID Vaccination
The country had nearly annihilated polio before conspiracy theories gave the disease room to spread. An army of health workers is set to give coronavirus vaccines too — if Pakistanis will take them.
In Tiny Kansas Town, Pandemic Skeptics Abound Amid False Information And Politics
In 1957, residents of the southwestern town Protection set an example by being the first in the U.S. to be fully inoculated against polio. Now locals are divided on the safety of COVID-19 vaccines.
The Campaign To Wipe Out Polio Was Going Really Well ... Until It Wasn't
It looked as if polio would be the second human disease to be eliminated — after smallpox. But "2020 has been a terrible year," the head of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative says.
The Race For A Polio Vaccine Differed From The Quest To Prevent Coronavirus
In the 1950s, as Dr. Jonas Salk and virologist Albert Sabin worked to create a vaccine to prevent infantile paralysis, the threat from polio was already long familiar to Americans.
'There Was So Little Information': Polio Survivors Offer Pandemic Perspective
The children and preteens of the U.S. polio epidemic of the 1940s and '50s are once again in a high-risk group, this time for coronavirus. They recall their experiences and the parallels to today.
The Unintended Benefits Of Vaccines
For decades, scientists have observed an extraordinarily positive side effect among children who receive the measles vaccine. Researchers are now finding that other vaccines confer added protections.