30th Meeting of the European Regional Certification Commission for Poliomyelitis Eradication (2016)

The 30th Meeting of the European Regional Certification Commission for Poliomyelitis Eradication (RCC) took place on 31 May–2 June 2016 to review annual updates submitted by the Member States of the Region on the status of their national polio eradication programmes.

The RCC concluded, based on available evidence, that there was no wild poliovirus (WPV) transmission in the WHO European Region in 2015, but that vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) type 1 was in circulation in Ukraine. While all countries remain at risk of importation, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania and Ukraine remain at high risk of a sustained polio outbreak following importation due to low population immunity. The RCC expressed concern at the number of countries, particularly those in the Balkans, where vaccine coverage is in decline, and the quality of poliovirus surveillance has reduced.

The Commission was encouraged that the planned switch to bivalent oral polio vaccine (bOPV) throughout the Region in April 2016 was completed successfully, but concerns exist that this Region has been adversely affected by delays in global availability of inactivated polio vaccine (IPV). Affected countries in the Region included those remaining at risk of importation due to their close proximity to the last two endemic countries in the world.