Polio: WHO approves new vaccine for emergency use

The World Health Organization announced the approval of a new Polio vaccine for emergency use – to curb global outbreaks. The vaccine is manufactured by Indonesia’s Bio Farma PT.

This was disclosed in a report by Bloomberg on Saturday.

WHO said the approved vaccine is to prevent circulating vaccine-derived polio viruses in several African and East Mediterranean countries.

The WHO disclosed that the weakened strains of polio can circulate in under-immunized societies for a long time. The Emergency listing will give vaccines the catalyst to be produced faster if there is a threat of a pandemic.

“The assessment essentially weighs the threat posed by the emergency against the benefit that would accrue from the use of the product based on a robust body of evidence,” the WHO said.

What you should know  

UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) warned last week of a need to avert major measles and polio epidemics as COVID-19 continues to disrupt immunization services worldwide, leaving millions of vulnerable children at heightened risk of preventable childhood diseases.

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced in August that polio is no longer endemic in Nigeria, leaving the devastating disease endemic in only two countries and bringing the world one major step closer to achieving its goal of ending polio for good.