Setbacks faced by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in low-income countries and rectifications needed.

The article focuses on the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), established in 1988 by the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Rotary International, and UNICEF, with later support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Gavi Vaccine Alliance. GPEI has reduced polio prevalence by 99.9%, declaring most regions polio-free except Afghanistan and Pakistan, where challenges such as poor health infrastructure, vaccine hesitancy, and conflict hinder eradication efforts. The use of oral polio vaccines (OPVs) has led to vaccine-associated paralytic polio (VAPP) in some cases, prompting calls to replace OPVs with injectable vaccines once wild poliovirus is eliminated. The COVID-19 pandemic and misinformation have further disrupted vaccination campaigns, emphasizing the need for integrated immunization strategies and continuous global monitoring.