WHO: The Two Polio Vaccines

Polio can’t be cured, but it can be prevented. Two important tools help to prevent polio – two safe, effective vaccines. Find out about the oral polio vaccine and the inactivated poliovirus vaccine and their roles in the polio eradication effort.

For more information: www.polioeradication.org

Polio is a disease
that causes permanent paralysis.

We can't cure it,
but we can prevent it.

Two important tools help
to prevent polio.

Two safe, effective vaccines.

One of these vaccines is given
with just two drops

into the mouth of a child,

this is called the oral polio vaccine.

The other is given with an injection,

this is called the inactivated polio
virus vaccine.

They both teach children's bodies
how to fight off the polio virus.

But they do this in different ways.

The oral polio vaccine builds protection
in the child's intestine.

This vaccine not only protects
the child who receives it,

but also protects all those around
the vaccinated child.

Several doses of the oral polio vaccine
should be given to every single child

in places where polio is a threat.

The injectable vaccine builds protection
in the blood instead of the gut.

It helps to boost immunity and
keeps countries free from polio.

But it doesn't stop polio spreading
between children,

so it is not as useful in places
where the virus is still circulating.

We need the oral vaccine to stop the virus
wherever it is found.

Once polio has been stopped everywhere,

the inactivated polio virus vaccine
will be used on its own

to keep populations protected.

Both of these vaccines have been approved
as safe and effective

by the World Health Organization.

To do their job properly,
they need to be given to all children

no matter where they live.

Thanks to these vaccines

cases of polio have fallen by over 99%
around the world.

Let's vaccinate every last child!

Let's end polio forever!