4 ms·
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-poli
by 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 agoSome 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 agoEven 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.