Polio live oral vaccine: Here’s why the US stopped using it years ago

An unvaccinated Rockland County, N.Y., resident exposed to an individual who received an oral poliovirus vaccine contracted the neurological disease and is now paralyzed, according to Rockland County and New York State Health Officials on Thursday, as Fox News Digital reported earlier.

The case raises the issue of polio vaccinations — and what Americans should know to protect their health.

“Based on what we know about this case and polio in general, the Department of Health strongly recommends that unvaccinated individuals get vaccinated or boosted with the FDA-approved IPV [inactivated] polio vaccine as soon as possible,” State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett said in a release from the N.Y. State Department of Health that was provided to Fox News Digital.

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Health officials said on Thursday that the oral vaccine — which contains live strands of the poliovirus — is no longer used in the U.S.

However, it is still used in many countries, including those in Eastern Europe. 

Officials could not confirm where the individual who received the oral polio vaccine was from or where the person who is ill encountered this person. 

The patient began experiencing symptoms about a month ago; state and county health officials began investigating and contact tracing. 

A woman is shown having a bandage put over her arm where she received a vaccination. The oral vaccine for polio has not been in use in the U.S. since the year 2000.
(iStock)

They could not confirm where the individual who received the oral polio vaccine was from or where the person who is ill encountered this person. (The patient’s identity has not been released.)

The N.Y. State Department of Health’s public health laboratory showed “revertant polio Sabin type 2 virus, according to a news release. 

The U.S. stopped using the oral polio vaccine (OPV) in 2000 — and instead uses the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), which does not contain the live virus. 

“This is indicative of a transmission chain from an individual who received the oral polio vaccine (OPV), which is no longer authorized or administered in the U.S.” 

The release also said, “This suggests that the virus may have originated in a location outside the U.S. where OPV is administered, since revertant strains cannot emerge from inactivated vaccines.”  

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed these findings as well, the release noted.

Officials said during the conference that the U.S. stopped using the oral polio vaccine (OPV) in 2000 — and instead uses the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), which does not contain the live virus. 

In this photo taken in February 2015, a Pakistani health worker gives a polio vaccine to a child at a bus terminal in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
(AP)

Rockland County Health Commissioner Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert said during the press conference this week that the IPV “does not cause polio.” 

She said the IPV used in the U.S. is inactivated and therefore it will not change or mutate.

“So there is no risk of transmission to others,” she said.

What is polio?

Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a viral disease that affects the nervous system. It can cause muscle weakness and in some cases paralysis and death, according to health experts. 

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Physicians explained to Fox Digital News that the poliovirus typically is transmitted when the contaminated fecal matter of an infected person enters the body through the mouth, usually from hands containing the fecal matter. 

It can also occur through respiratory and oral-to-oral transmission through saliva. 

This 2014 illustration made available by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) depicts a polio virus particle.
(Sarah Poser, Meredith Boyter Newlove/CDC via AP)

Rockland County experts explained during the press conference that polio is very contagious. 

A person can shed the virus — therefore infecting others — even when that person does not appear sick. 

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An individual can start to show symptoms up to 30 days afterward. Those symptoms can range from mild flu-like symptoms — including vomiting, fever, headache and muscle stiffness — to more severe symptoms such as muscle weakness and even paralysis, according to health experts.

Rupert explained during the conference that children in the U.S. usually receive the inactivated polio vaccine at 2 months of age — then a second dose at 4 months and a third dose between 6 months up to 18 months of age. 

Symptoms can range from mild flu-like symptoms — including vomiting, fever, headache and muscle stiffness — to more severe symptoms such as muscle weakness, even paralysis.

They then receive a booster…