The World Health Organisation, WHO, has prequalified the new oral poliovirus vaccine type 2 (nOPV2), marking it the first time the organisation has ever done so for a vaccine being used under the emergency use listing.
In an announcement weekend, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) said that the WHO prequalification paves the way for more nations to obtain the vaccine, which has played a vital role in halting outbreaks involving type 2 variant poliovirus (cVDPV2).
In the announcement, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hailed the prequalification as a historic public health milestone.
“Novel oral polio vaccine type 2 has blazed a trail for other new vaccines that address critical health emergencies, and its use demonstrates the utility of the EUL mechanism in helping to rapidly get new products to where they’re needed most,” Tedros stated.
Bio Farma Indonesia, the vaccine’s manufacturer, and Indonesian officials have granted it a complete license.
A global team led by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Institute for Biological Standards and Controls (NIBSC) in the UK, PATH, the University of California, San Francisco, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the US Food and Drug Administration developed it.
Since the oral polio vaccine (OPV) is simple to administer, store, and transport, it is frequently employed in campaigns in nations with less resources. But the oral vaccine’s attenuated virus can evolve and revert to becoming virulent, particularly in environments with low vaccination rates.
According to GPEI, nOPV2 is more genetically stable than monovalent type 2 oral polio vaccine (mOPV2), yet it is just as safe and efficacious.
After three years of clinical usage, estimates indicate that nOPV2 is eighty percent less likely to initiate new mutant polio epidemics.
Nigeria has been key in the dissemination of nOPV2 and was among the nations most affected by cVDPV2 outbreaks, according to GPEI. The vaccination has decreased the number of infections in Nigeria by 85 percent during the last three years. Around the world, 325 cases were reported in 2023, down sharply from 689 cases in 2022.
