There are currently two forms of vaccinations available for polio. The inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) is given through injection, thus it requires a health professional to administer. In most countries IPV is used in addition to oral polio vaccine (OPV) to provide further protection. The OPV is taken as oral drops, so it does not require a health professional to be used. OPV is the main preventative measure against polio today. However, IPV is the only vaccine that is used in the US, other countries use only OPV or a combination of both. This is because the US is currently free of polio and there is a low risk of poliovirus being brought into the US. I find it strange that the US only uses IPV because according to the WHO, IPV is recommended in addition to OPV, it is not meant to replace the OPV. I think it makes more sense for the US to continue to use the OPV as well, just to make sure polio stays out of the US.
Though the United States is currently free of polio, that is not the case in many other countries. The Ghana Health Services recently started a free vaccination campaign nationwide for the IPV. The campaign is targeting children between the ages of 21 months and 4 years. They are targeting this age range of children because this group never received vaccination after they removed a drug component from the OPV in 2015. Ghana has had some success in controlling their polio problem, since joining the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1996 they have been able to increase routine vaccination and use strategies such as active surveillance. I’m glad that countries other than the US are starting to get the healthcare attention that they deserve and are taking vaccinations seriously. The US should not be the only country free of polio, I hope the whole world can be free of polio in the future.
Polio is such a problem that some countries are requiring travelers to have themselves vaccinated with the polio virus before they can enter the country. Most of the countries that require vaccination for travel are in the Middle East or Eastern Europe such as India, Iraq, Lebanon and Ukraine. I believe it is very important to do your research and have all your vaccinations before you travel to a new country. Last week, the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine discovered that the Butuanon River in Cebu, Philippines was contaminated with poliovirus. If I were to travel to the Philippines without being vaccinated for poliovirus and contract the virus, I would run the risk of bringing the poliovirus back into the US for the first time in a long time. Just as people research the foods and cultures of foreign countries before they travel, they should also research the immunization requirements and diseases they may encounter.
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