Polio Vaccination Information for CUIMC Students

^{Updated August 29, 2022}

If you are a registered CUIMC student in the Fall 2022 term and you wish to discuss your polio vaccination status or discuss your need for additional doses, please schedule a telehealth visit with Medical Services. 

In view of the reporting of a case of paralytic polio in Rockland County in New York State and the detection of evidence of polio virus in wastewater surveillance from New York City and several other counties in the State, we wanted to provide you with information and resources regarding polio vaccination.

Most adults are likely to have been fully vaccinated. Fully vaccinated for polio means having received four doses as part of childhood vaccination or three doses if vaccinated as an adult.

For those who are fully vaccinated, there is no recommendation to receive a booster dose.

Those who are unvaccinated or have not completed a polio vaccine series should get vaccinated as soon as possible.  

• Adults who are unvaccinated, or uncertain if they have been fully vaccinated, should receive: 
  • The first dose at any time, as soon as possible 
  • The second dose 1 to 2 months later 
  • The third dose 6 to 12 months after the second 
• Adults who have had 1 or 2 doses of polio vaccine (i.e., not fully vaccinated) in the past should get the remaining 1 or 2 doses, irrespective of when they had previous dose(s).

Those who are at increased risk of exposure to polio virus and have previously completed a polio vaccine series (inactivated polio vaccine [IPV] or oral polio vaccine [OPV]), including certain health care or laboratory workers exposed to the polio virus or travelers to countries where polio remains endemic, can receive one lifetime booster dose of IPV.

CUIMC students with children that are not vaccinated/not fully vaccinated should talk to their child’s pediatrician about scheduling an appointment for vaccination ASAP. ColumbiaDoctors and New York-Presbyterian Hospital and its community clinics offer the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) by appointment. The New York City Department of Health also offers the vaccine at low- or no-cost for children between the ages of 4-17 at the Fort Greene Health Center (appointments required).

Inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), the recommended vaccine in the United States, uses inactivated polio virus that cannot reproduce, be transmitted, or cause infection.

For more detailed information, visit: 

• The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
• The New York State Department of Health 
• The New York City Department of Health