Polio, also called poliomyelitis, is a virus that usually causes paralysis. It can be easily prevented by the use of vaccines but many people are still suffering from the virus today.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative planned to use 5.1 billion in order to end polio by 2026. Organizations, countries, and the world worked hard to fight against polio. However, because of limited funding, donations, and resources, they faced many hardships and failures along the way.

Poliovirus cases have been drastically decreasing over the years. According to the statistics of poliovirus, there have been 350,000 total cases in 1988, and 138 in 2018. Cases rose in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 and vaccine shortages, fewer countries were being infected with polio. Afghanistan and Pakistan are now the only countries where polio continues to survive and spread. The chief of the polio eradication branch at the CDC stated that they would make sure to “deliver a polio-free world”. Even though the preceding plans of eradicating polio were not successful due to impassivity and funds, Dr. Vertefeuille claims that combining polio programs with different health care programs would make the plan more adequate, practical, and effective. Supplying all countries that are suffering from the virus is easier said than done. It takes considerable amounts of funding, donations, and commitment.

After all, is the eradication of polio possible? Poliovirus was discovered in 1908, but the end to it is uncertain and unconvinced. Furthermore, the controversies of the virus stand against the way of a polio-free world. However, public and private organizations are continuing to prioritize polio with other trending health issues and work to fully vaccinate people of developing countries. Hopes and stakes are high for the ending of polio. Until everyone is vaccinated, people will continue to suffer and die from the ongoing virus.

<Junsun Ho / Yorba Linda High 9th Grade>