Some hoped a new oral vaccine would solve all the polio campaign’s problems. Reality is settling in
When a new and hoped-to-be safer oral polio vaccine started to make its way into use in March 2021, there was huge optimism that this long-needed tool would help the polio eradication campaign quell a growing problem that was — and is still — complicating efforts to stamp out polio forever.
Two years later, expectations surrounding the new vaccine, known as novel oral polio vaccine type 2, or nOPV2 for short, are moderating a bit. It has since become clear it is a safe and effective tool, one that is much less likely to give rise to the aforementioned problem, in which live viruses used in an earlier type of oral vaccine overcame genetic changes made to weaken them, and in the process acquired the capacity to on rare occasions paralyze children.
