Notes from the Field: Readiness for Use of Type 2 Novel Oral Poliovirus Vaccine in Response to a Type 2 Circulating Vaccine-Derived Poliovirus Outbreak – Tajikistan, 2020-2021

On January 13, 2021, a vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (VDPV2) was identified by the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio in Moscow, Russia* in a specimen from a patient with acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) in Jaloliddin Balkhi district, Khatlon Region, in Tajikistan. Paralysis onset occurred on November 22, 2020. On February 6, 2021, a second, genetically linked VDPV2 paralytic case, with onset of paralysis on January 17, 2021, was confirmed from Khatlon Region in the neighboring Vakhsh district, indicating local transmission. Genetic sequencing of the isolate by the Regional Reference Lab…

Read More