Europe is facing increasing risk of polio despite continuing vaccination efforts

An abnormally high amount of polio detection in various European countries in recent months has underlined the importance of conservation of Europe without polio, according to a pension of the European Center for Prevention and Control of Disease (ECDC) Pamela Rendi Wagner and World Health Organization. ) Regional Director of Europe Hans Kluge, who was published in Eurosurveillance. “A future without polio remains our goal, but it is not certainty at all,” warns Rendi-Wagner and Kluge.

”Each country must remain vigilant to detect the presence of polio through sensitive surveillance systems, prepared to act quickly if any circulation is detected and is committed to maintaining high vaccination coverage in each community each year untilsaid Kluge and Rendi-Wagner. This reiterates the path available on the European immunization agenda, the strategy of elimination of GPEI polio and the global action plan for the surveillance of polio.

Continuous danger highlighted by recent detects

While polio is a threat to children’s health and well -being, it is a forgotten disease for the vast majority of people in Europe. Thanks to successful vaccination programs, extensive surveillance and epidemic response, Europe has been free from polio since 2002.

However, the virus will continue to be introduced into Europe if it is circulated worldwide. Pathogenic polio has been detected in at least one country in Europe each year from 2015 to 2022. More worrying, it was detected in 2024 in wickedness systems of 14 cities in 5 countries, namely Spain in Poland, Germany, the United Kingdom and Finland .

These viruses are associated with a genealogy that was first detected in Nigeria in 2020 and has traveled to another 21 African countries, causing outs of 15 of them. Genetic sequence analysis shows that before detection in Europe, the virus was released for one year elsewhere.

There is no evidence that there has been wide circulation of the virus in Europe because of these imports. However, these can and lead to outbreaks if people who are unsecured are exposed to the virus, as recently in Tajikistan, Ukraine, Israel and the United Kingdom.

Urgently required public health action

Therefore, Rendi-Wagner and Kluge emphasize the need to maintain high national vaccination coverage in all populations. While the five countries that detected the polio virus in 2024 have maintained high levels of immunization, have also reported inequalities in certain communities, which remain vulnerable to infection as a result. The ECDC estimates that 2.4 million children in the EU/EEA may not have received the course of vaccinations required for protection between 2012-2021, with an additional 600,000 children who may have lost their vaccinations in 2022-2023.

ECDC has published a rapid risk assessment on these detections that constitute priority actions that need to be taken urgently to prevent and limit the possible transmission of polio. The WHO has also published guidance to help countries identify, deal with and monitors to vaccination levels.

Kluge and Rendi-Wagner also emphasized their commitment to work closely to support national and local public health authorities in their efforts to limit the virus. This support includes technical guidance and resources for surveillance and epidemic response, facilitating data exchange and genetic sequence of viruses and helping to target risk communication strategies and community commitment strategies to improve vaccination coverage. “Europe remains committed to playing its role in the context of all relentless global efforts in this direction and has a full ability to do so successfully,” said Kluge and Rendi-Wagner.