Effectiveness of polio vaccination coverage in reducing the incidence of paralytic poliomyelitis in a highly endemic area of Bombay city

100% oral polio vaccine coverage was sought through household visits by health center personnel in a slum area in northwestern Bombay. Children up to and including 3 years of age comprised the target population. In the 2 1/2-year period following initiation of the vaccination campaign in September 1980, 83% of children in the target population were covered and no cases of paralytic poliomyelitis were reported from the area. This coverage rate of 83% stands in contrast with the 64% rate obtained in Bombay′s Ward B, a residential area for middle and upper-income people, and the 70% rate in Ward E, another slum district where household visits were not conducted. This experience demonstrates that it is possible to abolish paralytic poliomyelitis through adequate vaccination coverage even in slum areas located in the middle of highly endemic areas. Experience further demonstrated that it is not necessary to withhold oral polio vaccine from children with minor illnesses such as diarrhea or immediately before or after breastfeeding. These 2 contraindications have in the past increased the difficulty of obtaining adequate vaccine coverage rates among young children.