Use of oral polio vaccine and the incidence of COVID-19 in the world

Habibzadeh, Farrokh; Chumakov, Konstantin; Sajadi, Mohammad M.; Yadollahie, Mahboobeh; Stafford, Kristen A.; Simi, Ashraf; Kottilil, Shyamasundaran; Hafizi-Rastani, Iman; Gallo, Robert C.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0265562

Cited by 18 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…There are no direct studies demonstrating protective effects of OPV vaccination against COVID-19. However, comparison between countries using OPV and those that use only inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) showed that the former have a lower incidence of COVID-19 ( 22 ). In addition, a recent study demonstrated that mothers indirectly exposed to attenuated poliovirus after their babies were immunized with OPV had a much lower incidence of COVID-19 ( 23 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vaccination With Oral Polio Vaccine Reduces COVID-19 Incidence

et al. 2022

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BackgroundEffective response to emerging pandemic threats is complicated by the need to develop specific vaccines and other medical products. The availability of broadly specific countermeasures that could be deployed early in the pandemic could significantly alter its course and save countless lives. Live attenuated vaccines (LAVs) were shown to induce non-specific protection against a broad spectrum of off-target pathogens by stimulating innate immune responses. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of immunization with bivalent Oral Poliovirus Vaccine (bOPV) on the incidence of COVID-19 and other acute respiratory infections (ARIs).Methods and FindingsA randomized parallel-group comparative study was conducted in Kirov Medical University. 1115 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 65 were randomized into two equal groups, one of which was immunized orally with a single dose of bOPV “BiVac Polio” and another with placebo. The study participants were monitored for three months for respiratory illnesses including COVID-19. The endpoint was the incidence of acute respiratory infections and laboratory confirmed COVID-19 in both groups during 3 months after immunization. The number of laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 was significantly lower in the vaccinated group than in placebo (25 cases vs. 44, p=0.036). The difference between the overall number of clinically diagnosed respiratory illnesses in the two groups was not statistically significant.ConclusionsImmunization with bOPV reduced the number of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases, consistent with the original hypothesis that LAVs induce non-specific protection against off-target infections. The findings are in line with previous observations of the protective effects of OPV against seasonal influenza and other viral and bacterial pathogens. The absence of a statistically significant effect on the total number of ARIs may be due to the insufficient number of participants and heterogeneous etiology of ARIs. OPV could be used to complement specific coronavirus vaccines, especially in regions of the world where the vaccines are unavailable, and as a stopgap measure for urgent response to future emerging infections. Clinical trial registration number NCT05083039 at clinicaltrals.gov https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05083039?term=NCT05083039&draw=2&rank=1

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vaccination With Oral Polio Vaccine Reduces COVID-19 Incidence

et al. 2022

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“…If OPV exerts its protective effect through the stimulation of innate immune system, also called “trained immunity,” the protection provided is non-specific ( 5 , 15 ). In a recent study, we have shown that use of OPV was associated with a 30% reduction in the incidence of COVID-19 ( 13 ). Another study conducted on almost 100,000 people in 1969–70, reported that OPV could decrease the incidence of influenza by 32% ( 10 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Oral polio vaccine (OPV) has been shown to not only specifically immunize people against polio, but also provide non-specific transient protection against influenza and the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) ( 10 – 12 ). In a recent ecological study, we have shown that use of OPV vs. inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) for routine immunization, is associated with about 30% reduction in the incidence of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ( 13 ). The protective effect provided by OPV is probably through the stimulation of the innate immune system, as shown earlier for other live attenuated vaccines (LAVs) such as Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) and measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) ( 14 , 15 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of Oral Polio Vaccine and the Global Incidence of Mother-to-Child Human Immunodeficiency Virus Transmission

Habibzadeh

Yadollahie²,

Simi³

2022

Front. Public Health

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BackgroundMother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is an important global health issue. We hypothesized that the live attenuated poliovirus existing in oral polio vaccine (OPV) may protect uninfected neonates born to HIV-positive mothers through the stimulation of innate immune system.ObjectiveTo test the hypothesis that countries using OPV have a lower MTCT rate (due to postnatal protection provided by the vaccine) compared with those using only inactivated polio vaccine (IPV).MethodsIn an ecological study, the incidence of HIV/AIDS in children aged <1 year (IncHIV1), considered a surrogate index for MTCT rate, was compared between countries using OPV vs. IPV. The aggregated population data were retrieved for 204 countries from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD 2019) Collaborative Network website, “Our World in Data” website, the World Bank website, and the WHO Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). We used a negative binomial regression model with IncHIV1 as the dependent variable and the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in women aged 15–49 years (PrevHIV), antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage, human development index (HDI), and the type of vaccine used in each country as independent variables. Multivariate imputation by chained equations was used to treat missing values. Analyses were performed for both the original dataset (with missing values) and the five imputed datasets.ResultsIncHIV1 and PrevHIV were available for all 204 countries; vaccine type, 194 countries; HDI, 182 countries; and ART coverage, 133 countries. One-hundred and twenty-nine countries in the original dataset had complete data for all the above-mentioned variables; the imputed datasets had complete data for all 204 countries. The results obtained from the analysis of the original dataset had no overall difference with the pooled results obtained from the analysis of the five imputed datasets. Countries with higher HDI mainly use IPV; those with lower HDI commonly use OPV. PrevHIV, HDI, and the type of vaccine were independent predictors of IncHIV1. Use of OPV compared to IPV, was independently associated with an average decrease of 17% in IncHIV1 at the median HDI of 0.75. The protection provided by OPV increased in countries with lower HDI.ConclusionsUse of OPV compared with IPV, was independently associated with lower MTCT rate.

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“…The "relativity" of susceptibility to infection is influenced by antibody titer and affinity, antigenic escape, distance in time from the latest vaccine dose, and natural exposure to infection (including the size of the inoculum and droplet/aerosol physical property). Besides these factors there may be other environmental and health factors that affect susceptibility to COVID-19, as demonstrated in two hypothesis generating papers by Habibzadeh et al showing that locally (18) and worldwide (19) exposure to oral polio vaccine reduces the incidence of COVID-19 regardless of socioeconomic development index.…”

Section: How Does the Immune System React To Vaccination?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Pitfalls in Understanding and Handling of Covid-19 Vaccination (“Any Fool Can Know. The Point Is to Understand”)

Richter

2022

CEJP

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The aim of this article is to critically review the managing of vaccination over the course of the present COVID-19 pandemic against the knowledge that had already been at hand and the scientific data that had yet to be learned. In the period before vaccines for COVID-19 became available, the startling similarity in epidemiologic behavior between COVID-19 and the Spanish flu could be observed. The development of vaccines against COVID-19 has evolved at an unprecedented speed resulting in highly immunogenic vaccines with incredible protective characteristics covering a relatively short follow-up time in clinical trials. The rollout in the general population turned out to take significantly longer time than the duration of immunity conferred by a 2-dose vaccination schedule (about 3-4 months). Therefore, the SARS-CoV-2 was left with the opportunity for random mutations with each replication cycle, resulting in immune evasion, shortened incubation, shortened serial interval, and increased transmissibility. The short incubation period of COVID-19 requires a steady protective antibody titer to be maintained to avert infection, achieve herd immunity, and terminate the pandemic spread. The protective neutralization titer needed to avert symptomatic infection and infection altogether is about 3% and 20%, respectively, of the mean convalescent titer. The latter corresponds to an absolute titer of 1:10–1:30. The intensity and duration of protective vaccinal and hybrid humoral immunity are explored. From the present perspective, it was naive to believe that a 2-dose vaccination would suffice to counter COVID-19 primarily due to its short incubation and a roll-out that was not catching up with the waning protective vaccinal antibody levels. Besides, the spacing of doses and boosters with respect to previous infection or vaccination, and differences in natural immunity and vaccine-induced immunity (adenovirus-vectored and mRNA) are discussed. The issue of vaccination and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children is briefly presented. Finally, ethical points are discussed as some vaccine production platforms and neutralization tests use human cell lines derived from aborted fetuses.Conclusion – If the COVID-19 vaccines had been licensed as 3-dose vaccines, with more generous spacing, e.g. 0-2-6 months, providing for quantitatively larger and temporally more durable humoral immunity, that would have enabled attaining a steadier herd immunity and probably a paradoxical earlier effect on stopping the transmission.

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Use of oral polio vaccine and the incidence of COVID-19 in the world

Cited by 18 publications

References 21 publications

Vaccination With Oral Polio Vaccine Reduces COVID-19 Incidence

Vaccination With Oral Polio Vaccine Reduces COVID-19 Incidence

Use of Oral Polio Vaccine and the Global Incidence of Mother-to-Child Human Immunodeficiency Virus Transmission

Pitfalls in Understanding and Handling of Covid-19 Vaccination (“Any Fool Can Know. The Point Is to Understand”)

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