Polio Vaccines August 2025
As of 2025, two types of poliomyelitis vaccines are in use, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the United Kingdom's NHS, and the World Health Organization (WHO). The inactivated (killed) polio vaccine (IPV) was developed by Dr. Jonas Salk in 1955 and has been offered in the U.S. since 2000. IPVs produce antibodies in the blood that target all three types of poliovirus, thereby preventing the virus from spreading. The live attenuated (weakened) oral polio vaccine (OPV) was developed by Dr. Albert Sabin in 1961.
As of August 14, 2025, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) states that the OPV contains a weakened strain of the poliovirus that has evolved over time and now behaves similarly to wild-type polio infections. In addition, OPV can mutate sufficiently to regain virulence and lead to vaccine-derived poliovirus, which can paralyze an unvaccinated person. OPVs not only eradicated serotype 2, but they also resulted in decreased mortality rates among young children. The OPV confers cross-protection against non-polio enteroviruses, respiratory viruses, and herpes viruses due to the early activation of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells via pattern-recognition receptors, the reconfiguration of innate immune cells through epigenetic manipulation, and cross-reaction between B cells and T cells, among other mechanisms.
World Health Organization Polio Vaccination Recommendations
The WHO's SAGE reiterated in 2024 that timely OPV remains the primary tool for outbreak response because it elicits mucosal immunity. However, it was noted that the immunogenicity of OPV in settings where WPV1 or cVDPV outbreaks occur is often suboptimal. It is recommended that IPV be administered concomitantly with the novel OPV type 2 (nOPV2) during outbreak response vaccination campaigns, unless this would impact the timeliness of the response. In areas with co-circulation of poliovirus types 1 and 2, SAGE recommended concomitant administration of nOPV2 together with IPV. In September 2024, the SAGE expressed support for planning the eventual global cessation of bivalent oral poliovirus vaccines (bOPV) use. The Global OPV Stockpile Strategy for 2022-2026 was published in 2023.
Polio Vaccinations U.S. CDC
The IPV vaccine has been available in the U.S. since 2000. As of August 2025, the CDC says the IPV can reduce the amount of poliovirus people shed, but can't stop all virus transmission. The CDC published a poliovirus vaccine update, recommending that children receive four doses of any combination of IPV and trivalent oral polio vaccine (tOPV) or a primary series of at least three doses of IPV or tOPV. The OPV is not offered in the U.S. Since 1961, the FDA has required testing to ensure that polio vaccines used in the United States are free of SV40 contamination.
Polio Vaccine Effectiveness
Estimates of vaccine effectiveness against paralytic polio range from 36% to 89% for one dose, and IPV vaccination appears to reduce the mean quantity of shed poliovirus by 63% to 91%. Research indicates no significant differences in the odds of poliovirus shedding between individuals with IPV and those who are unvaccinated. A U.S. CDC-funded study published by The Lancet on May 10, 2023, concluded that co-administration of nOPV2 and bOPV interfered with immunogenicity for poliovirus type 2 but not for types 1 and 3. The blunted nOPV2 immunogenicity we observed would be a significant drawback of co-administration as a vaccination strategy.
Polio Vaccine Booster Dose
On December 4, 2023, the U.S. CDC MMWR published updated recommendations for the use of IPV for adults known to be unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated. States that fully vaccinated adults are at increased risk for poliovirus exposure may receive a single lifetime booster dose of IPV. The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), led by Oliver Brooks, MD, FAAP, reviewed poliovirus, polio vaccination, and polio epidemiology on June 21, 2023. The ACIP's Proposed Language: Adults who have received a primary series of tOPV or IPV in any combination and are at increased risk of poliovirus exposure may receive another (booster) dose of IPV. Available data do not indicate the need for more than one lifetime booster dose for adults with IPV. Sarah Kidd, MD, MPH, led the ACIP presentation on Adult Polio Vaccination: Recommendations for Unvaccinated and Incompletely Vaccinated Adults, as well as Recommendations for Booster Doses of IPV.
Polio Vaccines 2025
IMARC Group's new report indicates that the poliomyelitis vaccine market is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 5.04% from 2024 to 2034.
PT Bio Farma and Biological E. Limited produce the WHO-prequalified nOPV2 vaccine. As of July 2024, approximately one billion doses have been administered in more than 35 countries worldwide.
The Imovax Polio® (IPOL® IPV) vaccine is indicated for active immunization of infants (as young as six weeks), children, and adults to prevent poliomyelitis caused by poliovirus types 1, 2, and 3. The IPV protects against both wild-type polio and this weakened poliovirus strain. On February 28, 2024, the CDC vaccine committee reviewed the Clinical Considerations for Children Who Received a Fractional Dose of Inactivated Poliovaccine. Refer to the ACIP IPV catch-up vaccine table for details and age groups.
Kinrix is indicated as the fifth dose in the IPV series for active immunization against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, and poliomyelitis in children ages 4 through 6.
Pediarix is a vaccine for active immunization against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, and infection caused by all known subtypes of the hepatitis B virus, as well as poliomyelitis.
Pentacel is a multi-vaccine that contains diphtheria, tetanus toxoids, and acellular pertussis adsorbed, as well as inactivated poliovirus (DTaP-IPV), which is common, as well as an ActHIBHIB vaccine component.
Quadracel vaccine is indicated for active immunization against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, and poliomyelitis.
SanShantha Biotechnics manufactures Sanofi's IMOVAX-Polio IPV vaccine in Hyderabad and has been used in over 100 countries for more than 40 years. ShanIPV IPV is an inactivated polio vaccine developed by Shantha Biotechnics. It received WHO prequalification status and was produced by Sanofi in Hyderabad, India, until December 2023. Sanofi Pasteur became the first contributor to IPV in India in March 2014.
Sabin IPV, an inactivated vaccine produced by SINOVAC Biotech Ltd., is indicated for preventing the wild poliovirus and was WHO-prequalified in June 2022.
LGChem (Eupolio) is the first attenuated Sabin-IPV to obtain WHO prequalification. The main advantage is a lower biosafety risk.
SINOVAC's sIPV polio vaccine was WHO-prequalified in June 2022 to prevent poliomyelitis caused by infection with types I, II, and III polioviruses. sIPV is available for purchase by United Nations agencies.
Bio Farma bOPV Bivalent Type 1 & 3 Oral Poliomyelitis Vaccine.
Bilthoven Biologicals produces an inactivated polio vaccine and plans to collaborate with Bharat Bio to develop an OPVtech.
Codagenix Inc. received funding to apply its proprietary synthetic biology technology to fortify nOPV strains against recombination with other enteroviruses, thereby further reducing the risk of emergence of potentially neurovirulent vaccine-derived polioviruses.
Novel Oral Polio Vaccine
Bio Farma manufactures novel OPV candidates against polio types 1 and 3, and they are undergoing several clinical studies sponsored by PATH. Since the nOPV2 vaccine launched in Africa, approximately 1 billion doses have been administered in more than 29 countries. The U.S. CDC confirmed the nOPV2 vaccine is more genetically stable and less likely to be associated with the emergence of cVDPV2.
A study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases on August 13, 2025, showed results of a phase 1 randomized controlled trial show that the novel live attenuated type 1 and 3 oral polio vaccines (nOPV1 and nOPV3) have a favorable safety profile and produce a comparable immune response and viral-shedding profile as the homotypic monovalent (single-strain) Sabin-strain oral vaccines (mOPVs).
Polio Vaccination United Kingdom
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) confirmed that an IPV Booster campaign was launched in London on September 29, 2022, targeting children aged 1 in 2022. The polio vaccine is part of the NHS childhood vaccination schedule.
Polio Vaccine Fractional Dose
In 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced a global shortage of IPV, specifically in India. In response, WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) recommended a strategic shift to fractional-dose inactivated poliovirus vaccine (fIPV), a smaller dose of the same vaccine equivalent to 1/5 of a standard dose, according to the GPEI. Studies show that two doses of fractional-dose IPV administered by intradermal injection produce a more robust immune response than a single full-dose IPV dose.
Polio Vaccine Price
The U.S. CDC confirms that the Vaccines For Children program is a federally funded program that provides IPV vaccines and medicines at no cost to children who might not otherwise be vaccinated due to their inability to pay. The U.S. CDC Vaccine Price List was updated in 2023. This UNICEF table provides an overview. For people in the U.S. who are not covered by health insurance, a polio booster typically costs around $100. For example, pharmacies may charge about $100 for an IPV polio booster shot.
Polio Vaccine Misinformation Management
Yale Institute for Global Health and The Public Good Projects partnered in 2020 to create the Vaccine Misinformation Management Field Guide. This guide aims to help organizations address the global infodemic by developing strategic and well-coordinated national action plans to rapidly counter vaccine misinformation and build demand for vaccinations informed by social listening. The Digital Community Engagement (DCE) initiative recruits digital volunteers through an interactive online platform, uInfluence, to promote accurate information on polio and vaccines. In 2022, over 5 million online social listening results were analyzed from 41 countries in more than 100 languages.
Polio Vaccine Transition
In 2016, the CDC announced that to address the risks posed by type 2 circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses, the type 2 component of the OPV was withdrawn through a switch from the tOPV to the bOPV, which contains only attenuated viruses of types 1 and 3. However, the bOPV vaccine does not offer immunity against serotype 2. This change reduced the risk of tOPV seeding new cVDPV2 outbreaks in the U.S.
The GPEI reports that, before April 2016, the trivalent oral poliovirus vaccine (tOPV), which contains types 1, 2, and 3, was the predominant vaccine used for routine immunization against poliovirus. Before the development of tOPV, monovalent OPVs (mOPV2) were developed in the early 1950s but were discontinued upon the adoption of tOPV. Following April 2016, the tOPV was replaced with the bivalent oral poliovirus vaccine (bOPV). As of February 2023, the tOPV remains used with children in countries such as Somalia. On August 9, 2023, the Strategy Committee of the GPEI announced that it had commissioned a formal evaluation of the 2016 global withdrawal of Sabin poliovirus type 2 (OPV2), the switch from tOPV to bOPV. The review aims to generate critical lessons learned from the OPV2 withdrawal to guide the direction of the GPEI, including future OPV withdrawal efforts. The finalization and publication of the evaluation are planned for mid-2024. On May 12, 2023, the CDC reported that from January to 021 March 31, 2023, GPEI supported 48 countries, during which approximately 988 million bOPV, 616,000 IPV, 960,000 fractional IPV, 90 million mOPV2, 595 million nOPV2, and 100 million tOPV doses were administered. The 6th Transition Independent Monitoring Board report was published on August 2, 2023, evaluating the progress and challenges of the polio transition process and recommending strengthening work at the global, regional, and country levels.
Poliovirus Outbreaks
The latest news on polio outbreaks is posted by Vax-Before-Travel in 2025.
