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The live attenuated oral polio vaccine is contagious and has already been widely used in many countries.

jinpa_zangpo 5y ago
"The oral polio vaccine that's used primarily in low- and middle-income countries - it's been the workhorse of this global effort to eradicate polio. But it is a live vaccine. It's cheap. It's easy to administer. "However, this live vaccine is continued to be used worldwide. And while you're doing that, some of that vaccine has gotten out into the world. And it's mutated. It starts circulating again, just like regular polio. But early on, it's just - it's still a vaccine. It's not dangerous. And then slowly, it sort of regains strength. And they're finding they can actually genetically see this - that scientists can actually trace it back directly to the vaccine. And now these vaccine-linked cases are actually causing more cases of paralysis each year than actual traditional - what scientists call wild polio." https://www.npr.org/2019/11/16/780068006/how-the-oral-polio-vaccine-can-cause-polio https://www.npr.org/2019/11/16/780068006/how-the-oral-polio-...
- btown 5y ago
  An important note from that article, lest the quote out of context feed any anti-vaccine fears: SIMON: Now, we should underscore, Jason, this is not the version of the vaccine that's given to youngsters in the United States. BEAUBIEN: Yeah. SIMON: Why are other countries still using it? BEAUBIEN: Right. So in the United States and in Europe and other countries like that, it - we're using an injectable vaccine, which is a dead vaccine. It is not a live virus, and it cannot cause polio. So that should not at all be a concern. The issue, however, is that it's an injection that has to be given. It's given four times between the ages of 2 months and 7 years. So just administering it is difficult. And just frankly, there is not enough global stockpile of that vaccine to vaccinate all of the children around the world, you know, four times over the course of their childhood.
ComradePhil 5y ago
It has also mutated to act like the wild-type virus and cause polio. https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/poliomyelitis-vaccine-derived-polio https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/pol... A few years ago, there were more polio cases caused by vaccine-derived virus than the wild virus.
- tempestn 5y ago
  Some important context there though is that that's only true because the vaccine is suppressing cases of the wild virus. Since these vaccination efforts began, rates of infection have decreased massively. But at this point it is proving difficult to stamp it out completely, due to these vaccine-derived outbreaks. That said, it is certainly a shame that the entire world doesn't have access to and capability to administer the inactive vaccine.
  - ComradePhil 5y ago
    Even more important context is if you look at historical data, polio only became a major epidemic after the vaccines started being developed in the UK... mostly in poor population in commonwealth countries... or during the world wars. So, there's that.

"The oral polio vaccine that's used primarily in low- and middle-income countries - it's been the workhorse of this global effort to eradicate polio. But it is a live vaccine. It's cheap. It's easy to administer. "However, this live vaccine is continued to be used worldwide. And while you're doing that, some of that vaccine has gotten out into the world. And it's mutated. It starts circulating again, just like regular polio. But early on, it's just - it's still a vaccine. It's not dangerous. And then slowly, it sort of regains strength. And they're finding they can actually genetically see this - that scientists can actually trace it back directly to the vaccine. And now these vaccine-linked cases are actually causing more cases of paralysis each year than actual traditional - what scientists call wild polio." https://www.npr.org/2019/11/16/780068006/how-the-oral-polio-vaccine-can-cause-polio https://www.npr.org/2019/11/16/780068006/how-the-oral-polio-...

btown 5y ago
An important note from that article, lest the quote out of context feed any anti-vaccine fears: SIMON: Now, we should underscore, Jason, this is not the version of the vaccine that's given to youngsters in the United States. BEAUBIEN: Yeah. SIMON: Why are other countries still using it? BEAUBIEN: Right. So in the United States and in Europe and other countries like that, it - we're using an injectable vaccine, which is a dead vaccine. It is not a live virus, and it cannot cause polio. So that should not at all be a concern. The issue, however, is that it's an injection that has to be given. It's given four times between the ages of 2 months and 7 years. So just administering it is difficult. And just frankly, there is not enough global stockpile of that vaccine to vaccinate all of the children around the world, you know, four times over the course of their childhood.

ComradePhil 5y ago

It has also mutated to act like the wild-type virus and cause polio. https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/poliomyelitis-vaccine-derived-polio https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/pol... A few years ago, there were more polio cases caused by vaccine-derived virus than the wild virus.

tempestn 5y ago
Some important context there though is that that's only true because the vaccine is suppressing cases of the wild virus. Since these vaccination efforts began, rates of infection have decreased massively. But at this point it is proving difficult to stamp it out completely, due to these vaccine-derived outbreaks. That said, it is certainly a shame that the entire world doesn't have access to and capability to administer the inactive vaccine.
- ComradePhil 5y ago
  Even more important context is if you look at historical data, polio only became a major epidemic after the vaccines started being developed in the UK... mostly in poor population in commonwealth countries... or during the world wars. So, there's that.