Gates Foundation Funds Innovative Polio Vaccine Development

Current polio vaccines are made from either inactivated or weakened versions of the virus. These vaccines have been administered worldwide for many decades.

However, this approach presents challenges in certain situations. It highlights the need for an improved vaccine that does not rely on the virus itself, particularly as the global community strives to end poliovirus infections.

As of June 30, 2025, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified poliovirus detections in 41 countries.

Developing vaccine formulations that do not use live viruses in their production would be highly beneficial, as it would eliminate the potential safety risks associated with handling and growing the virus, wrote Evaxion A/S in early June 2025.

To address this need, Evaxion received undisclosed funding from the Gates Foundation to help eradicate polio worldwide by exploring design options for a new and innovative vaccine.

This project will combine Evaxion’s leading and clinically validated AI-Immunology™ platform to identify and combine various antigens to combat the virus. Based on these findings, several new antigen constructs will be designed for selection and validation.

“We are thrilled to receive support from the Gates Foundation and help the world achieve the goal of completely eradicating polio. We are excited to apply our AI-Immunology™ platform to combat yet another infectious disease. The grant allows for further application and validation of our platform without adding to our operational spend,” says Christian Kanstrup, CEO of Evaxion, in a press release on June 3, 2025.

The inactivated (killed) polio vaccine (IPV) was developed in 1955 to produce antibodies in the blood that target all three poliovirus types, thereby preventing the spread of the virus, and has been offered in the U.S. since 2000.

IPV vaccinations are offered at clinics and pharmacies in the U.S.