Polio: getting ready for the day after eradication

Abstract

This week marks the third anniversary of the last reported case of polio in Nigeria. Martina Merten reports that the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and the Nigerian government are already making use of trained polio workers to fight other diseases

Childhood vaccination in the twenty-first century: Parental concerns and challenges for physicians

“…Vaccination has so far eliminated or drastically reduced the risk of many diseases that, historically, exerted a terrible toll on humanity (Weil, 2016). Apart from the above example of smallpox, children (and adults) in most parts of the world are now safe from diphteria, tetanus, and poliomyelitis (Vitek, 2006;Roush et al, 2007;Merten, 2019). The incidence of whooping cough, a bacterial infection that is often fatal in newborns and infants, has also been significantly curbed, although there is some resurgence due to a number of factors (insufficient lifelong immunity, possible development of resistance, decrease in vaccine uptake; please see Domenech de Cellés et al, 2018).…”

“…Vaccination is arguably the greatest triumph of science and science-based medicine. For more than two centuries, vaccines have been protecting millions of people from dangerous and deadly infectious diseases, one of which (smallpox) has been successfully eradicated (Simmons et al, 2015), while another (poliomyelitis) is now close to eradication (Merten, 2019). However, due to a complex interplay of factors, both vaccination rates and vaccine coverage are currently in considerable decline in many countries: vaccine hesitancy and refusal are on the rise (Dubé et al, 2013).…”