We’re in the last mile in the fight to eradicate polio, but progress is fragile. As long as the disease is a threat anywhere, it remains a threat everywhere. A look at how UNICEF and partners are working to reach every child with lifesaving polio vaccines.
There is no cure for polio, only prevention
Since the introduction of the first polio vaccine in the 1950s, fully vaccinated children have been protected from the dangerous viral illness that attacks the nervous system, causing paralysis and sometimes death.
Today, polio is on the brink of eradication, but conflict, climate disasters, displacement and vaccine misinformation are hindering efforts to reach some of the world’s most marginalized children with lifesaving vaccines.