Polio Endgame Under Pressure: Is Plan B Necessary?

Despite huge gains in reducing wild poliovirus, funding shortfalls, political barriers, and access issues in Afghanistan and Pakistan are undermining eradication efforts. With budget cuts, waning urgency, and operational challenges (including bans on female vaccinators and disrupted US-backed infrastructure), experts doubt that current strategies will achieve eradication, prompting calls to consider alternative plans while remaining vigilant for outbreaks and vaccine-derived polio.