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Issued by Tim Duffy, Acting North American Editorial and Press Coordinator, The Lancet
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A case-control study of more than 2000 people in India estimated the efficacy of mOPV1 to be 30% per dose against type 1 paralytic poliomyelitis in the Uttar Pradesh region, compared with 11% for the standard trivalent oral vaccine.

Between 76–82% of children aged 0–23 months in Uttar Pradesh were estimated to be protected by vaccination against type 1 poliovirus at the end of 2006 (after repeated rounds of vaccination with mOPV1)—compared with 59% at the end of 2004, prior to the introduction of mOPV1.

The authors conclude: "Achieving high coverage with the new vaccine in areas of persistent poliovirus transmission should substantially improve the probability of rapidly eliminating transmission of the disease."

In an accompanying Comment, Professor Paul Fine and Dr Ulla Griffiths, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: "The demonstration of superior effectiveness of mOPV1 vaccine adds to the evidence that termination of wild poliovirus transmission is technically feasible, given enough time, continued funding, political stability, and continued political support in the affected areas of the world."

Professor Kimberly M Thompson, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA. T) +1 617 432 4285

Dr Bruce Aylward, Global Polio Eradication Initiative, World Health Organisation, Switzerland. T) +41 79 217 3438

Comment Professor Paul Fine, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK. T) +44 (0) 20 7927 2219