If solved
A Polio-Free World
Wild and vaccine-derived polioviruses are gone, every region is certified, and live oral vaccine is withdrawn: polio becomes the second human disease ended after smallpox.
Open in the interactive tree →The extended global plan aims to stop wild type 1 by the end of 2027 and type 2 variant virus by the end of 2029; certification takes years after the last case, and routine vaccination can stop only after that. Smallpox, declared eradicated in 1980, is the only human disease ended so far. Africa was certified wild-polio-free in 2020, so the remaining work is concentrated in a few countries and in places with low vaccination.
What it brings
- No child is paralysed by polio, ending a disease that paralysed an estimated 350,000 people a year in 1988
- Polio vaccination can stop worldwide, as smallpox vaccination did
- The eradication network of surveillance and vaccination teams can be used against other diseases
Prerequisites
- Eradicating PolioopenNeeds the last wild virus and all vaccine-derived outbreaks stopped.