A researcher from Tulane University has been awarded $1.6 million (£1.21 million) by the Gates Foundation to develop a revolutionary oral polio vaccine. Led by Dr Elizabeth B. Norton, the project aims to create a non-live, non-reverting vaccine that addresses a critical flaw in current immunisation strategies.
Existing oral vaccines deploy a weakened live virus, which, in communities with low immunity, can genetically revert to a form capable of causing outbreaks of vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (VDPV2). This reversion can lead to new cases of paralysis, undermining global eradication efforts.
