Poliovirus Vaccination and Global Eradication Strategies

The global campaign against poliomyelitis has relied on two main vaccine platforms: live-attenuated oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) and inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV). OPV has been instrumental in eliciting intestinal immunity and interrupting person-to-person transmission, while IPV confers systemic protection and bolsters eradication efforts in polio-free settings. As wild poliovirus approaches eradication, the emergence of circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPVs) poses a renewed challenge. To address this, novel OPV strains with enhanced genetic stability have been engineered, and integrated surveillance methods now enable more rapid outbreak detection. Comprehensive strategies combine high routine immunisation coverage, targeted outbreak responses, environmental and clinical surveillance, and development of next-generation vaccines to achieve and sustain eradication.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent advances have focused on refining vaccine genetics and surveillance technologies. One study described the creation of chimeric Sabin-derived vaccine candidates for types 1 and 3 by transplanting stabilised capsid regions from a genetically enhanced type 2 backbone. These candidates retained robust immunogenicity in animal models and resisted attenuation loss under accelerated evolution protocols. Another investigation validated a rapid detection workflow that couples direct molecular amplification with nanopore sequencing of stool samples. This approach reduced confirmation times by more than half compared with conventional cell culture and Sanger sequencing, enabling earlier identification of circulating type 2 vaccine-derived outbreaks. A separate report detailed prolonged excretion of vaccine-derived poliovirus in asymptomatic individuals with primary immunodeficiency, revealing intra-host evolution and neurovirulent phenotypes and underscoring the importance of targeted surveillance in this high-risk group.

Poliovirus Vaccination and Global Eradication Strategies publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in poliovirus vaccination and global eradication strategies across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Live-attenuated oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV): A weakened form of poliovirus administered orally to induce both intestinal and systemic immunity.

Inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV): A killed poliovirus preparation given by injection to stimulate circulating antibodies and prevent paralytic disease.

Circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV): A vaccine strain that has genetically reverted to a transmissible, neurovirulent form in under-immunised populations.

Genetic stability: The resistance of an attenuated vaccine strain to mutation events that could restore virulence.

Immunogenicity: The capacity of a vaccine to provoke a protective immune response, measured by antibody production or seroconversion rates.

References

1. Safety of the novel oral poliovirus vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) in infants and young children aged 1 to. The Lancet (2024).
2. Genetic stabilization of attenuated oral vaccines against poliovirus types 1 and 3. Nature (2023).
3. Effectiveness of poliovirus vaccines against circulating vaccine-derived type 2 poliomyelitis in Nigeria between 2017 and 2022: a case-control study. The Lancet Infectious Diseases (2024).
4. Sensitive poliovirus detection using nested PCR and nanopore sequencing: a prospective validation study. Nature Microbiology (2023).
5. Poliovirus antibodies following two rounds of campaigns with a type 2 novel oral poliovirus vaccine in Liberia: a clustered, population-based seroprevalence survey. The Lancet Global Health (2023).
6. Asymptomatic immunodeficiency-associated vaccine-derived poliovirus infections in two UK children. Nature Communications (2023).