Elimination of poliomyelitis in France: epidemiology and vaccine status.

In France, both inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) and oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) were used until 1983. By that time a new enhanced-potency IPV (eIPV) was licensed and recommended by the French Ministry of Health as the vaccine of choice. Ninety-five per cent of infants have received four doses of eIPV by 24 months of age. No cases of vaccine-associated paralysis among either recipients or those in contact with recipients have been reported since 1983. Only four wild indigenous cases of paralytic poliomyelitis have been reported among unvaccinated children in the past five years and none since 1990. Although paralytic poliomyelitis has been virtually eliminated in France, vaccination programs as well as active surveillance of the community and environment for poliovirus circulation should be reinforced to reach the goal of wild poliovirus eradication.