A booster dose of inactivated polio vaccine bolsters the immune system and reduces viral shedding in children already treated with the oral polio vaccine, a study shows
Depending on when and where in the world you were born, you may have received a different kind of polio vaccine than someone else born into different circumstances. If you were born in the U.S. after 2000, for example, you likely received an injection of the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), but before that, you might have received the oral polio vaccine (OPV), a live attenuated virus, administered by mouth. Starting later this year, children born in polio-affected countries will receive both vaccine types, per World Health Organization (WHO) “endgame” plans to finish the job of eradicating polio.
The results of a study published today (August 21) inScience support this approach. In a group of Northern Indian children who had already received one or more doses of OPV, a supplementary dose of IPV bolstered their immune responses and reduced their shedding of viral particles in stool, a team led by researchers at the WHO reported.