Episode #62 - Polio & COVID-19

VGS   Before the pandemic hit, the fight against polio was in its final mile. How has the pandemic impacted our fight to eradicate polio? How have the polio infrastructures helped our fight against COVID-19? And why is it important to keep our eyes on polio?

Hello, and welcome to Science in 5, I'm Vismita Gupta-Smith. We are talking to Sona Bari today. Welcome, Sona. Sona, let's start with how the pandemic has impacted our fight against polio. 

SB   Thank you Vismita for having me today. Most of us don't remember polio, but just a generation ago, every single day, over a thousand children were paralyzed by polio worldwide. Parents would send their children to school in the morning and, by the afternoon, the polio virus would have paralyzed them for life. There was no cure, but then a safe, effective vaccine was developed and the countries of the world decided that we would eradicate polio and make sure that that vaccine reached every single child everywhere. And we are 99.9% of the way there. This year, two children were paralyzed by wild polio virus.

In 2020, like the rest of the world, immunization was affected when COVID-19 struck. Parents couldn't bring their children to health facilities for immunization and outreach workers couldn't visit the homes to vaccinate children. So, when this pause, when we couldn't vaccinate children, we built up what we call an immunity gap. All the kids who would have been vaccinated couldn't be vaccinated at that time. In late 2020, we took measures to make sure that we could vaccinate with precautionary measures so as not to spread COVID-19, and we restarted vaccination. And we are now rebuilding, filling that immunity gap. Only two countries are left that still have endemic polio: Afghanistan and Pakistan. But we can't be complacent. Now's the time to come back with more energy. 

VGS   Sona, the Global Polio Eradication Programme has a very effective infrastructure that was put in place to eradicate polio. How has that helped in fighting COVID-19? 

SB   Well, interestingly, when Rotary International, the global service organization, decided to launch polio eradication, they called it PolioPlus and the plus has always meant that people who work to eradicate polio in the endemic countries and in countries that are at high risk of polio re-infection, they've always done things beyond eradicating polio. They weigh newborns. They give advice on other medical issues. They carry out disease surveillance for other diseases. And when COVID-19 hit, they also started working on disease surveillance, on contact tracing, on educating communities, physical distancing, how to take hygiene measures. Our lab network is testing samples. So, this is all part of the support that Polio Eradication’s unique infrastructure is able to give. And one important thing about this infrastructure is that it has always been built to reach those who are least reached by health services. Communities that live in areas that fall between the cracks. So, if you will, that weakest link where disease can hide and polio is uniquely positioned to help there. Investing in polio eradication is doubly beneficial. We are not only eradicating polio, we're actually helping strengthen health systems where they are at their weakest to the most vulnerable communities. And now the polio eradication workers are helping with the vaccine rollout in many countries. 

VGS   Sona, explain to me why it's important that the world doesn't take its eyes off of polio at this point in the pandemic? 

SB   In eradication, when you set out to completely wipe a disease from the Earth, the only number that counts is zero. And this was a promise to all future generations, not just this generation. This is only the second time we will do this after eradicating smallpox. The other reason is COVID-19 has shown us how quickly and dangerously infectious disease can spread around the world. If we don't stop polio now, it will come roaring back out of those two countries, leaving the rest of the world vulnerable. So, let's fulfill that promise. Let's end polio and give the world one less disease infectious disease to worry about. 

VGS   Thank you, Sona. That was Science in 5 today. Until next time then. Stay safe, stay healthy and stick with science.