polio

Polio vaccine boosters are offered to London children as the virus spreads

12:47pm August 10, 2022

by The Associated Press

Children were made eligible for booster doses after health authorities reported finding evidence the virus has spread in multiple areas of London but found no cases of the paralytic disease in people.

New York health officials detected Polio in a patient Thursday, the first case in the United States since 2013. The signature symptom of the Polio virus is paralysis, which can return later in life, years after a survivor has recovered from their initial

The first U.S. polio case was discovered in nearly a decade. Should you worry?

5:56pm July 22, 2022

by Dustin Jones

The CDC confirmed that a patient in New York has contracted polio, the first U.S. case since 2013. But most people shouldn't be concerned about contracting the virus because of high vaccination rates.

This 2014 illustration made available by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention depicts a polio virus particle. On Thursday, July 21, 2022, New York health officials reported a polio case, the first in the U.S. in nearly a decade. (Sarah Pose

Health & Safety

The first U.S. case of polio since 2013 has been detected in New York

7:13pm July 21, 2022

by Ayana Archie

The patient, who has developed paralysis but is no longer contagious according to the AP, may have contracted the virus overseas. The CDC says no cases of polio have originated in the U.S. since 1979.

Aerial view of the Beckton Sewage Treatment Works in London. Between February and May, U.K. scientists found several samples containing closely related versions of the polio virus in wastewater at the plant.

Polio found in U.K. for the first time in nearly 40 years. Here's what it means

10:03pm June 22, 2022

by Michaeleen Doucleff

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.

A child receives a polio vaccine in Kampala, Uganda, on Jan. 14, 2022.

Vaccine-derived polio is on the rise. A new vaccine aims to stop the spread

6:18pm April 26, 2022

by Ari Daniel

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.

Queue Listen Now

Left: A drawing of a human with a cow head holding a needle menacingly toward a child as he administers a tainted smallpox vaccination was meant to sow distrust of smallpox vaccines. Right: Protesters against COVID-19 vaccinations hold a rally in Sydney i

PHOTOS: Vaccine History Repeats Itself — Sometimes

7:13pm May 14, 2021

From the first vaccine (for smallpox) the questions have been the same. How do we transport it? Who's next to get it? Why so much hesitancy? The answers can be similar — or dramatically different.

Elvis Presley got his polio vaccination from Dr. Harold Fuerst and Dr. Leona Baumgartner at CBS' Studio 50 in New York City on Oct. 28, 1956. The chart-topping singer took part in a March of Dimes campaign to convince teens to get vaccinated.

Can't Help Falling In Love With A Vaccine: How Polio Campaign Beat Vaccine Hesitancy

9:00am May 03, 2021

by Susan Brink

This isn't the first big vaccine rollout, and the past holds lessons for the pandemic present. Here's a look at how the polio vaccine overcame U.S. hesitancy.

Polio vaccinator Zeenat Parveen, holding the clipboard, and a volunteer go door-to-door to reach children in Rawalpindi, a city near the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.

Pakistan's Polio Playbook Has Lessons For Its COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout

2:30pm February 24, 2021

by Diaa Hadid

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.

Queue Listen Now

A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child in Afghanistan's Kandahar province. Taliban opposition to vaccine campaigns have left millions of children unprotected against the virus.

Health & Safety

The Campaign To Wipe Out Polio Was Going Really Well ... Until It Wasn't

3:20pm October 30, 2020

by Jason Beaubien

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.

An oral polio vaccine, which contains weakened live virus, is administered in a health enter in Togo. Africa has declared that wild polio has been eradicated, but a relatively small number of cases of vaccine-derived polio persist.

Health & Safety

Africa Declares Wild Polio Is Wiped Out — Yet It Persists In Vaccine-Derived Cases

6:52pm August 25, 2020

by Maria Godoy

The Kick Polio Out of Africa Campaign began in 1996. This week, the World Health Organization announced that wild polio has been eradicated — although there is a caveat.