From the Guidelines
IPV stands for Inactivated Polio Vaccine, which is the recommended vaccine used to prevent poliomyelitis (polio) in most developed countries. It contains killed poliovirus strains of all three poliovirus types and is administered by injection. The standard IPV vaccination schedule for children includes doses at 2 months, 4 months, 6-18 months, and a booster at 4-6 years of age, as recommended by the Pediatrics journal in 2011 1. For adults who were never vaccinated, a primary series of three doses is recommended. IPV is extremely effective at preventing polio, a potentially devastating disease that can cause permanent paralysis. Unlike the oral polio vaccine (OPV), IPV cannot cause vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis because it contains killed virus rather than weakened live virus.
Key Points
- IPV works by stimulating the immune system to produce antibodies against poliovirus without causing the disease itself.
- The use of IPV has been instrumental in the global effort to eradicate polio, which has reduced worldwide polio cases by more than 99% since 1988, as supported by the MMWR Recommendations and Reports in 2000 1.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also recommends an all-IPV schedule for routine childhood poliovirus vaccination in the United States, as stated in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report in 2003 1.
Important Considerations
- The minimum interval between doses 1 and 2 and between doses 2 and 3 is 4 weeks, and the minimum interval between doses 3 and 4 is 6 months, as specified in the Pediatrics journal in 2011 1.
- The final dose in the inactivated poliovirus vaccine series should be administered at 4 through 6 years of age, regardless of the previous number of doses administered before the fourth birthday, and at least 6 months since the last dose was received.
From the Research
Definition of IPV
- Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine (IPV) is a vaccine used to protect against poliomyelitis, available since 1955 2.
- IPV is the first vaccine to be used to protect against poliomyelitis and its immunogenicity continues to be effective in preventing paralytic poliomyelitis 2.
Characteristics of IPV
- IPV requires strong containment due to the large quantities of live virus used in the manufacturing process 2.
- IPV is perceived to have a lack of ability to induce intestinal mucosal immunity, is high in cost, and has increased complexity to administer compared to oral polio vaccine (OPV) 2.
- IPV induces humoral immunity, which protects against paralytic poliomyelitis but does not induce sufficient mucosal immunity to block intestinal infection 3.
Studies on IPV
- A randomized, placebo-controlled trial of IPV in Cuba showed that vaccination with two or three doses of IPV resulted in a rate of seroconversion of at least 90%, except for seroconversion against type 2 4.
- A study on the safety and immunogenicity of IPV schedules for the post-eradication era found that two doses of either IPV or fractional doses of IPV (f-IPV) at 14 and 36 weeks of age provided adequate immunity against poliovirus type 1 and type 2 5.
- A phase 1 randomized study on the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of IPV with or without E.coli double mutant heat-labile toxin (dmLT) adjuvant in healthy adults found that the addition of dmLT to IPV did not affect humoral or intestinal immunity 3.