POLIOMYELITIS: REPORT BY THE SECRETARIAT TO THE JANUARY SESSION OF THE W.H.O. EXECUTIVE BOARD

Sunday, 18th of January 2015

Poliomyelitis

Report by the Secretariat to the January Session of the WHO Executive Board

Excerpts below; full text is at http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/EB136/B136_21-en.pdf

By 7 December 2014, 316 cases of paralytic poliomyelitis from wild poliovirus were reported globally compared to 355 for the same period in 2013. All the cases were caused by wild poliovirus type 1 and the majority (85%) were in Pakistan, where intense transmission was ongoing. Twenty-three cases were reported in Afghanistan, primarily as a result of cross-border importation. In the only other remaining country in which poliomyelitis is endemic, Nigeria, the systematic application of

eradication strategies had resulted in a substantial reduction in the number of cases, with six reported to date and onset of paralysis in the most recent on 24 July 2014.

. . .By 7 December 2014, all but three Member States had either already introduced inactivated poliovirus vaccine or had a plan to do so by the end of 2015. The three countries concerned account for less than 0.05% of the global birth cohort and are not at high risk of emergence of a circulating vaccine-derived type 2 poliovirus. Of the 73 countries eligible for support from the GAVI Alliance for the introduction of inactivated poliovirus vaccine, 66 had successfully applied. The Polio Oversight

Board of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative approved 12 months of financial support for a further 25 low- and low-middle-income countries in order to facilitate introduction of the vaccine by the end of 2015. Work is ongoing to facilitate technology transfer for the domestic production of inactivated poliovirus vaccine using Sabin-strain polioviruses (Sabin-IPV), where requested.

Withdrawal of the type 2 component in oral poliovirus vaccine from

routine immunization systems globally will require replacement of the trivalent formulation of the vaccine with the bivalent (types 1 and 3) formulation in all countries that continue to use oral poliovirus vaccine. Work is continuing with manufacturers of bivalent oral poliovirus vaccines and their national regulatory agencies to extend the current licence for these products to include use in routine activities. It is

imperative that all countries wishing to use oral poliovirus vaccine after April 2016 complete national licensure requirements for the use of bivalent oral poliovirus vaccine in their routine immunization

programme by the end of 2015. WHO recommends acceptance of the use of bivalent oral poliovirus vaccine in routine immunization on the basis of its prequalification by WHO while national registration processes are ongoing. A protocol has been drafted to facilitate national planning for the switch from trivalent to bivalent oral poliovirus vaccine in the context of the globally coordinated withdrawal of the type 2 component.