WHO Regional Office for Europe: World Polio Day celebrates history in the making
“Thanks to the widespread use of safe and effective vaccines, poliomyelitis (polio) is expected to become the second human disease ever to be eradicated (after smallpox). Only 20 cases of wild poliovirus have been detected so far this year in the three remaining endemic countries (Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan). World Polio Day, on 24 October, celebrates this progress and the people who make it possible by getting their own children vaccinated and those working to reach every last child until no child’s future is threatened by the crippling impact of this disease…” (10/23).