WHO REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO ORAL POLIO VACCINE

20 October 1995

Press Release
H/2883

WHO REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO ORAL POLIO VACCINE

19951020 GENEVA, 20 October (WHO) -- "The eradication of polio from the world can only be achieved using oral polio vaccine", said Dr. Jong-Wook Lee, Director of the Global Programme for Vaccines, commenting on a decision by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta to recommend adding two doses of injectable polio vaccine to the national immunization schedule.

The core group working towards global polio eradication -- the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Centers for Disease Control and Rotary International -- emphasize that oral polio vaccine is recommended because it can both provide individual protection to each child as well as prevent the spread of the polio virus to other children. At 8 cents per dose, the cost of a single dose of oral polio vaccine procured by UNICEF is less than one tenth of the cost of a dose of injectable polio vaccine.

The statement by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) applies only to the United States, where the last case of naturally occurring polio was registered more than 15 years ago. The WHO reaffirmed its position that oral polio vaccine alone is the basis for the global eradication of polio and that the addition of injectable polio vaccine is neither necessary nor recommended for that purpose.

The ACIP meeting at the Centers for Disease Control voted on Wednesday to change the immunization schedule in the United States to two doses of injectable polio vaccine and two doses of oral polio vaccine. In their recommendation, the ACIP affirmed its support for the WHO's initiative to eradicate polio and noted that the eradication of polio was achieved in the United States through the exclusive use of oral polio vaccine.

"The change of ACIP's position seems to be based on fears of polio caused by the vaccine", said Dr. Lee. "Vaccine associated polio occurs at a rate of about one case per 3 million doses administered." The new ACIP strategy will prevent only about half of the five to 10 cases of vaccine- associated polio in the United States each year at a cost of approximately $20,000,000.

The WHO estimates that as many as 100,000 cases of polio occurred worldwide in 1994. The initiative to eradicate polio seeks to destroy totally the wild (naturally occurring) polio virus from the entire world by the year 2000. When the disease is eradicated, immunization against polio will no longer be necessary. The United States will save at least $230 million each year after polio is eradicated and immunization is stopped. The global savings from polio eradication are expected to total at least $1.5 billion per year.

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