Timeline for OPV cessation and beyond

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s programme of work for minimizing long-term poliovirus risks is split into three phases.

Phase 1: the wild poliovirus containment and certification phase

This phase consists of activities required to:

   (a) ensure the destruction or safe storage and handling of wild poliovirus stocks
   (b) certify both the interruption of wild poliovirus transmission globally and the containment of the remaining wild poliovirus stocks.

Phase 2: the VAPP/VDPV elimination phase

This phase begins with the eventual cessation of the routine use of trivalent OPV in immunization programmes globally in order to eliminate vaccine-associated paralytic polio (VAPP) and the risks of polio re-emergence posed by circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPVs).

During this period, surveillance of acute flaccid paralysis and poliovirus outbreak response capacity will need to be maintained globally to detect and respond to any emergent cVDPVs, especially in the three years immediately following OPV cessation.

Destruction or safe storage and handling of residual Sabin-related poliovirus infectious and potentially infectious materials will also be required at this time.

Phase 3: the post-OPV era

This final phase begins with the verification that VDPVs no longer circulate globally. By the time the elimination of VAPP and cVDPVs has been verified globally it is anticipated that all long-term functions of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative will have been incorporated into routine immunization programmes and existing mechanisms for managing the residual risks associated with eradicated pathogens.