Poliomyelitis vaccination benefits--versus risk

Paralytic poliomyelitis is a constantly rising problem in the developing world. It may take an insiduous endemic "infantile paralysis" behaviour exacting a high toll in the first few years of life, as in Ghana or Burma but on the other hand it may take the form of sudden extensive outbreaks of paralytic disease as in Argentina, Mexico or Malaysia. The developed world has controlled the disease by effectively immunizing a very high proportion of their populations, but those who have not been vaccinated are at risk even in countries with very high coverage, as has been noted in the Netherlands, Sweden, United States of America, etc. There is no reason to have a crippled paralytic child (or adult). Both the live and killed vaccines have been repeatedly shown to be safe and effective. The minute risk incidental to vaccination is more than one hundredfold smaller than the risk from the disease, not only in the developing world but in the developed world as well. Therefore, the question of which vaccine to use is of far less relevance than of how to increase effective coverage with any available vaccine. This does not mean that vaccine control should be relaxed. A health respect should be maintained for the polioviruses used as vaccine sources and great care must be exercised by those undertaking the manufacture or the administration of vaccine.