High vigilance to prevent return of polio in Europe continues despite COVID-19 pandemic
Every year, the European Regional Commission for Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication (RCC), an independent panel of international public health experts, reviews progress reports on poliomyelitis (polio) eradication activities from all 53 Member States of the WHO European Region and reports the findings and required actions to WHO.
This year, despite the extraordinary challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, 41 of the 53 countries in the European Region were able to complete and submit their annual polio reports for 2019 on time before the RCC’s 34th annual meeting on 2 June 2020. This achievement was commended by RCC members, who met remotely with the WHO Secretariat.
The initial conclusion of the RCC showed that polio programmes were maintained during 2019 much as in previous years, and no new risks to polio eradication in the Region were identified. The RCC further acknowledged improvements and significant efforts made by some countries to increase preparedness and reduce the risk that a poliovirus could circulate if imported into the Region.
Their annual conclusions on the status of polio eradication in the Region are based on factors including polio immunization and surveillance rates, and overall assessed risk of transmission following a potential importation of a wild poliovirus or emergence of a vaccine-derived poliovirus.
The RCC expects to receive and review the outstanding reports of the remaining 12 countries by the end of August 2020. Results and conclusions of the full review will include confirmation of whether the European Region has retained its polio-free status as well as specific recommendations for each country.
COVID-19: potential impact on polio prevention
The RCC review covered reports for 2019; however, the Commission underlined that as global, regional and national efforts continue to respond to rapidly evolving COVID-19 outbreaks, essential public health activities, including to sustain polio eradication, must continue.
Professor David Salisbury, Chair of both the Global Certification Commission (GCC) and the RCC, commended the countries for their vigilance. He further stressed that in 2020 it will be of the utmost importance that all countries do all they can to preserve high population immunity through vaccination and high-quality surveillance, despite the pressures that COVID-19 is imposing on immunization service providers.
Maintaining immunization during COVID-19 is essential
WHO/Europe has published guidance on maintaining routine immunization services during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Region to help countries minimize the risk of transmission during immunization sessions, as well as to ensure timely catch-up of any vaccination doses that may be missed or postponed.
New WHO tool facilitates reporting
The timely submission of the annual reports on polio eradication activities in the majority of the Region’s countries was possible in part thanks to the introduction of an electronic reporting format (e-APR) last year for 2018 reporting, and an upgrade of the tool based on feedback from countries following its introduction.
The RCC commended the WHO Secretariat for its leadership in developing this user-friendly tool, which has facilitated improvements in the quality of data analysis and made it possible to reduce the duration of the RCC meeting to one day.
