International leaders, philanthropists, and global health partners announced today a collective $1.9 billion to advance polio eradication. This funding is essential as wild poliovirus is now endemic in only two countries, but outbreaks of variant poliovirus still threaten children in over 30 countries.
According to a press release from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) on December 8, 2025, the funds will accelerate efforts to reach 370 million children annually with polio vaccines and strengthen health systems in affected countries to protect children from other preventable diseases.
This includes approximately $1.2 billion in newly pledged funds, reducing the remaining resource gap for the GPEI 2022-2029 Strategy to $440 million.
The pledges announced today reaffirm international resolve to finish the job and protect future generations from a disease that once paralyzed 1,000 children every day across 125 countries.
"The fight to end polio shows what is possible when the world invests together in a shared goal. We're 99.9 percent of the way there – but the last stretch demands the same determination that got us this far," said Bill Gates, Chair of the Gates Foundation. "This renewed funding will help us cross the finish line and strengthen the systems that protect children from this terrible disease for good."
Success would make polio just the second human disease ever eradicated—after smallpox—and is projected to save the world more than $33 billion by 2100 compared to the ongoing cost of outbreak control.
The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on immunization (SAGE) recently endorsed two critical innovations for polio eradication.
SAGE recommended that fractional doses of Sabin-based inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) be used in the same way as fractional doses of Salk-based IPV – helping stretch supply and reach more children.
SAGE also backed the broader rollout of novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) to help stop persistent outbreaks of circulating variant poliovirus type 2 in some of the toughest places.
In 2024, SAGE recommended that, where feasible, the use of both IPV and nOPV2 vaccines be employed for initial outbreak-response vaccination campaigns.
In the United States, the IPV is offered at travel clinics, and booster shots are suggested for certain travelers.














