Why is polio vaccine taken orally?

Answer 1

Polio is caused by a virus that is ingested via the mouth and then infects the gut. It makes sense to use a vaccine that is administered the same way.

We used a weakened strain of the polio virus that was administered orally for years. It has a lot of advantages to the inject-able vaccine but when the disease became so rare in the western world that most of the cases may have been related to the vaccine itself it made sense to switch to the injection.

Answer 2

If thing the main reason is that it provides better immunity (better than the inactivated) since it uses the natural infection route (oral-faecal) in the body where it enters through cells in the intestine.

Answer 3

Poliomyelitis as two vaccines: Jonas Salk developed the first in 1952 and used first in 1955. This vaccine used an inactive virus. Albert Sabin developed an attenuated vaccine which was available in 1962. The Salk vaccine was given by injection and the Sabin by mouth.

Answer 4

Polio is a highly infectious illness that spreads through contact between people, by nasal and oral
secretions, and by contact with contaminated feces.
Poliovirus enters the body through the mouth, multiplying along the way to the digestive tract, where
it further multiplies.

Polio vaccines prevent poliomyelitis. There are two types: one that uses inactivated poliovirus and is given by injection, and one that uses weakened poliovirus and is given by mouth.

They both work fine but the oral one is easier to give and doesn't upset small children. The other reason to use the oral is the cost of needles and other equipment. This makes the oral cheaper.

Answer 5

because polio doesn't need to be in the blood stream