Vaccination

Poliovirus

During the 1940's and 1950's poliomyelitis became a highly feared childhood disease, especially in the United States, because of its association with paralysis.  As a result, a very strong effort was made to research the possibility of a vaccine.

The first effective vaccine to be developed was the Salk vaccine which was introduced in 1954.  Known as IPV, or inactivated polio vaccine, it was about 80-90% effective.  The second vaccine, OPV (oral polio vaccine) was a live attenuated vaccine know as the Sabin.  It is trivalent and contains strains of all three serotypes of poliomyelitis.  Although it produces more effective immunization, there have been casses of OPV recipients acquiring poliomyelitis.

Current CDC vaccination recommendations :

Two doses of IPV at 2 and 4 months of age, followed by two doses of OPV at 12-18 months and 4-6 years.  The use of IPV is recommended to boost immunization before OPV (generally the more effective vaccine) is used.
 

Rhinovirus
 
There is currently no vaccine for rhinovirus.  It is especially difficult to develop a vaccine for rhinovirus as there are over 100 serotypes.  There are also other viruses that are also associated with the common cold like corona virus and some enteroviruses  With so many different causes, the common cold has been able to baffle scientists in the search for a cure (or vaccine).
 

Hepatitis A

The Hepatitis A vaccine was licensed in 1992.  It's an inactivated vaccine that is pretty expensive and is only administered to those at high risk.  To get fairly effective immunization that lasts for a few years, two doses must be given about a month apart with a possible booster 6 months later.  Because of the high costs and the limited duration of immunization from the vaccine, general childhood vaccination probably won't be realistic until after a live attenuated or recombinant vaccine is created.
 

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