The oral vaccine is still used in countries where wild polio is still circulating because it is more effective than the killed virus and easier to administer. WHO is already phasing out the live virus vaccine altogether. This is just a step toward doing that. As the disease is eliminated from countries, the switch is made to the killed virus vaccine, which has the disadvantage of having to be injected.
The US has not used the live polio virus vaccine since 2000.
There have been 10 cases of paralytic polio in the world so far this year, 2 in Afghanistan and 8 in Pakistan. There have been three cases from the vaccine virus, all in Laos.
If religious zealots in Afghanistan and Pakistan can be persuaded to allow contacts of people with polio to be vaccinated, we can eradicate polio completely and no one in the world will have to be vaccinated against it. It takes surveillance for some time after the last case to be sure no new cases are going to pop up. Therefore, the oral vaccine will be needed for some time yet.
Note that the strain of the virus that has been removed from the vaccine is no longer circulating in the wild. The last wild case from it was in 1999. That strain has been eradicated, and the risk of getting paralytic polio from the vaccine for it is now greater than the risk of wild disease from it. It is no longer necessary to vaccinate against it.
Global Polio Eradication Initiative > About us > FAQ
It's really weird that the anti-vax community in the US is against a program that will make it no longer for anyone in the US to have to take a specific vaccine.
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