About Polio Vaccine
What is Polio?
Polio is a contagious viral illness that in its most severe form causes nerve injury leading to paralysis, difficulty breathing and sometimes death. In the U.S., the last case of naturally occurring polio was in 1979. Today, despite a worldwide effort to wipe out polio, poliovirus continues to affect children and adults in parts of Asia and Africa.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises taking precautions to protect yourself from polio if you’re traveling anywhere there’s a risk of polio. Adults who have been vaccinated who plan to travel to an area where polio is occurring should receive a booster dose of inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV). Immunity after a booster lasts a lifetime.
Top 5 Questions about Polio vaccines
Vaccine has been tested for safety in different countries of the world, including Islamic countries and is provided to millions of children in the world. In 2015, laboratories from Islamic countries proved that vaccine doesn’t have any ingredients that affect children’s fertility.
The vaccine contains medicinal ingredients that help the child develop immunity against the polio virus. The Holy Quran discusses that Muslims should do their best to protect themselves from suffering and seek medication as possible. The polio vaccine helps protect children from suffering for life-time. Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia have mandatory polio vaccine for Haj. There have been many fatwas that polio vaccine is Halal for Muslims.
Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only last two countries of the world that have the wild polio virus, which is the most dangerous. It is global efforts to protect every child, end polio from the world so other countries and children don’t get affected as well. It will be our pride as Muslims in Afghanistan to record in history that we did eradicate polio from the world by vaccinating every child at every campaign.
Polio is a highly infectious virus that causes children under 5 to be paralyzed for life. The virus attacks the under-immunized children. The virus gets transmitted through open sewage systems and in unhygienic environment. Receiving polio vaccine together with the full routine immunization schedule is the only way for protecting children against polio. Vaccinating children at every campaign means continued protection from the virus that is circulating in our communities.
Millions of children receive vaccines every year around the world at health facilities. The polio vaccine is one of the safest vaccines ever developed and it can be given to sick children and new-borns to protect them. Consult an officially licensed pediatrician for any questions to protect your child from life-time paralysis.
The development of effective vaccines to prevent paralytic polio was one of the major medical breakthroughs of the 20th century. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative uses two types of vaccine to stop polio transmission – inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) and oral polio vaccine (OPV).
If enough people in a community are immunized against polio, the virus will be deprived of susceptible hosts and will die out. High levels of vaccination coverage must be maintained to stop transmission and prevent outbreaks occurring. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is constantly assessing the optimal use of the different types of vaccine to prevent paralytic polio and stop poliovirus transmission in different areas of the world.