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| Quick reference medical handouts used
by Pediatric offices |
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Polio Vaccine
What Parents Need to Know
What is polio?
Polio is a disease caused by a virus. It enters a child s (or adult
s) body through the mouth. Sometimes it does not cause serious illness. But
sometimes it causes paralysis (can t move arm or leg). It can kill people
who get it, usually by paralyzing the muscles that help them breathe.
Polio used to be very common in the United States. It paralyzed and
killed thousands of people a year before we had a vaccine for it.
Why get vaccinated?
Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPY) can prevent polio.
History: A 1916 polio epidemic in the Unites States killed 6,000 people
and paralyzed 27,000 more. In the early 1950's there were more than 20,000
cases of polio each year. Polio vaccination was begun in 1955. By 1960 the
number of cases had dropped to about 3,000, and by 1979 there were only about
10. The success of polio vaccination in the U.S. and other countries sparked
a world-wide effort to eliminate polio.
Today: No wild polio has been reported in the United States
for over 20 years. But the disease is still common in some parts of the world.
It would only take one case of polio from another country to bring the disease
back if we were not protected by vaccine. If the effort to eliminate the
disease from the world is successful, some day we won t need polio vaccine.
Until then, we need to keep getting our children vaccinated.
Who should get polio vaccine and when?
IPV is a shot, given in the leg or arm, depending on age. Polio vaccine
may be given at the same time as other vaccines.
Most adults do not need polio vaccine because they were already vaccinated
as children. But three groups of adults are at higher risk and should consider
polio vaccination:
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people traveling to areas of the world where polio is common,
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laboratory workers who might handle polio virus, and
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health care workers treating patients who could have polio.
Oral Polio Vaccine: No longer recommended
There are two kinds of polio vaccine: IPV, which is the shot recommended
in the United States today, and a live, oral polio vaccine (OPV), which is
drops that are swallowed. Until recently OPV was recommended for most children
in the United States. OPV helped us rid the country of polio, and it is still
used in many parts of the world.
Both vaccines give immunity to polio, but OPV is better at keeping
the disease from spreading to other people. However, for a few people (about
one in 2.4 million), OPV actually causes polio. Since the risk of getting
polio in the United States is now extremely low, experts believe that using
oral polio vaccine is no longer worth the slight risk, except in limited
circumstances which your doctor can describe. The polio shot (IPV) does not
cause polio. If you or your child will be getting OPV, ask
for a copy of the OPV supplemental Vaccine Information Statement. |
Some people should not get IPV or should
wait.
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Anyone who has ever had a life-threatening allergic reaction to the
antibiotics neomycin, streptomycin or polymyxin B should not get the polio
shot.
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Anyone who has a severe allergic reaction to a polio shot should not
get another one.
These people should wait:
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Anyone who is moderately or severely ill at the time the shot is scheduled
should usually wait until they recover before getting polio vaccine.
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People with minor illnesses, such as a cold, may be vaccinated.
What are the risks from IPV?
Some people who get IPV get a sore spot where the shot was given.
The vaccine used today has never been known to cause any serious problems,
and most people don t have any problems at all with it.
However, a vaccine, like any other medicine, could cause serious problems,
such as a severe allergic reaction. The risk of a polio shot causing serious
harm, or death, is extremely small.
What should I do?
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Call a doctor or get the child to a doctor right away.
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Tell your doctor what happened, the date and time it happened, and
when the vaccination was given.
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Ask your doctor, nurse, or health department to file a Vaccine
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Adverse Event Report (VAERS) form, or call VAERS yourself at:
l-800-822-7967
In the rare event that you or your child has a serious reaction to
a vaccine, a federal program has been created to help you pay for the care
of those who have been harmed. For details about the National Vaccine Injury
Compensation Program, call 1-800-338-2382 or visit the program’s website
at http://www.hrsa.gov/bhpr/vicp/
Ask your doctor or nurse. They can give you the vaccine package insert
or suggest other sources of information. the information of death Call your
local or state health department’ immunization program. Contact the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Call 1-800-232-2522
(English) Call 1-800-232-0233 (Español)
This Vaccine Information Statement courtesy of the United
States Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control,
and the National Immunization Program
As a reminder, this information should not be relied on as
medical advice and is not intended to replace the advice of your child’s pediatrician.
Please read our full disclaimer.
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