Routine Vaccines, Extraordinary Impact: Polio

By Priya Joi 25 July 2022

Polio cases have nose-dived by 99% since the late 1980s after a push to eradicate the disease, but clusters of cases across the world indicate that it could resurge if we don’t double down on eradication.

The discovery in the summer of 2022 that poliovirus had been found in sewers in London as well as in an unvaccinated community in New York startled many who had long forgotten about polio. The outbreak was a perfect demonstration that vaccines are often so successful at stopping deadly diseases, that we can be lulled into a false complacency.

Although polio only affects a handful of countries currently, the potential threat from its continued circulation means that the World Health Organization still classifies it as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) despite this classification being given back in 2014.

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