Nigeria reaches milestone in eradicating polio

Walter Einenkel

Daily Kos Staff

Friday September 25, 2015 · 12:34 PM PDT

2015/09/25 · 12:34

no image description available — Vaccines can save our future

Vaccines can save our future

The World Health Organization is expected to announce Nigeria's removal from the list of polio endemic countries.

It follows Nigeria going more than a year without a case of wild - naturally occurring - polio.
Three years without cases are required before it can be declared polio free.

It will mean there will be just two endemic countries - Pakistan and Afghanistan - where transmission of the paralysing virus has never been interrupted.

This is great news in the fight to eradicate polio, globally. Nigeria has faced quite a few obstacles in the fight against polio.

In 2003, some northern states boycotted the oral polio vaccine for nearly a year after scare stories that it caused sterilisation.
It led to the virus spreading to many countries that had been declared polio free.

Nigeria has also been moving from the oral vaccination to the injectable vaccination which is safer.

Vaccinate!

Nigeria reaches milestone in eradicating polio

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