After Two Years, 590 Million Novel Polio Vaccines Administered

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) recently announced it had been two years since the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) became available.

Approximately 590 million doses of nOPV2 have been administered across 28 countries under its WHO Emergency Use Listing (EUL) to date.

An additional 13 countries have met the EUL requirements for nOPV2 use in the event of a polio outbreak.

As of April 1, 2023, the nOPV2 vaccine is unavailable in the U.S.

GPEI’s nOPV Working Group leaders, Simona Zipursky (World Health Organization) and Ananda S. Bandyopadhyay (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), were interviewed on March 29, 2023, on the journey and the vaccine’s performance so far.  

The unedited interview is posted at this link.