Oral Polio Vaccine (Cont.)

Comparing Oral Polio Vaccine to Inactivated Polio Vaccine

There are two general polio vaccine types. One type is inactivated polio vaccine, meaning that the vaccine contains no live poliovirus. The other type is live oral polio vaccine, which contains live but weakened poliovirus. Until recently, oral polio vaccine was recommended for most children in the United States. Oral polio vaccine helped rid the United States of polio, and it is still used in many parts of the world.
 
Both vaccines give immunity to polio, but oral polio vaccine is better at keeping the disease from spreading to other people. However, for a few people (about one in 2.4 million), oral polio vaccine actually causes polio (known as vaccine-associated paralytic polio). Since the risk of getting polio in the United States is now extremely low, experts believe that using oral polio vaccine is no longer worth the slight risk, except in limited circumstances, which your doctor can describe. The polio shot (inactivated polio vaccine) does not cause polio.
 
(Click Polio Vaccine to learn more about the inactivated polio vaccine.)
 

Oral Polio Vaccine: Vaccine-Associated Paralytic Poliomyelitis

Vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis is a rare adverse reaction following live oral polio vaccine. It is caused by vaccine-derived poliovirus. One case of vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis occurred for every 2 to 3 million doses of oral polio vaccine administered. This resulted in 8 to 10 cases of vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis each year in the United States. From 1980 through 1999, vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis accounted for 95 percent of all cases of paralytic poliomyelitis reported in the United States.
 
(Click Vaccine-Associated Paralytic Poliomyelitis to learn more about this rare but serious reaction to oral polio vaccine.)
 

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Written by/reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD; Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
Last reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD;