According to a recent study, a single injectable dose of inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) along with the bivalent polio vaccine could protect up to 90 percent of children from polio while also protecting communities from the debilitating disease. The study, which was conducted by the Center for Global Health at the Colorado School of Public Health, provides further evidence that the recent global switch to a new form of the polio vaccine was the right call and that the new regimen will protect children much faster than the older program. “Making a single injectable vaccine available especially in [Pakistan and Afghanistan, where polio is still a major concern] will accelerate the worldwide eradication of the crippling disease,” said Dr. Edwin Asturias, lead researcher of the study. Asturias and his team conducted the study over 12 months and included 1,400 subjects from Guatemala, Columbia, Panama, and the Dominican Republic. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded the study, which is featured in the latest issue of The Lancet.

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