Leslie RobertsThe Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) is about to roll out a brand-new vaccine—one that its leaders desperately hope will turn the flagging effort around.
If it works as expected, the vaccine just might overcome one of the biggest obstacles to polio eradication: out-of-control outbreaks caused by the polio vaccine itself.
If not, GPEI will be back to dousing each outbreak with a vaccine that risks starting another, as eradication slips further from sight.The new vaccine is so urgently needed that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has paid for nearly 200 million doses to be produced by an Indonesian manufacturer “at risk,” even before clinical trials are complete.