Researchers have developed a “super-engineered” vaccine that could be a major turning point in the battle against polio.
The new vaccine aims to address the resurgence of vaccine-derived polio strains that have hampered global eradication efforts, researchers said in a study published in the journal Nature.
The vaccines, designed by Andrew Macadam and his team at the UK's National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, have demonstrated effectiveness in initial tests and are now undergoing human trials.
Since 1988, global efforts to eradicate polio have brought the world tantalisingly close to eliminating the disease.
The tenacity of these campaigns has led to the eradication of two of the three poliovirus subtypes and the significant containment of the third.
Over the past year, only 21 cases of wild polio were reported in children in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Mozambique.
However, an unexpected challenge has emerged on this path to eradication – vaccine-derived polio.
Despite the overall success in combating wild polio, there were 665 cases of this strain across 23 countries in the past year alone.
This occurs when the weakened poliovirus used in oral vaccines regains its virulence and begins causing the very disease it was meant to prevent.
Addressing this resurgence, the newly developed vaccines employ genetic engineering to significantly lower the risk of the attenuated virus reverting to a virulent state.
More than 650 million children in 30 countries have received the nOPV2 vaccine, a predecessor to these latest vaccines, since March 2021.
Although more genetically stable, it has regained virulence on four separate occasions, underscoring that the fight against polio requires more than scientific advancements alone – it necessitates comprehensive public health initiatives.
Notably, vaccine-derived polio cases are particularly prevalent in under-immunised communities.
These outbreaks have largely been seen in sub-Saharan Africa, though traces have been found in the UK, Canada, Israel and the US.
Factors such as the Covid-19 pandemic, which hindered vaccination campaigns, and conflicts in polio-vulnerable countries have contributed to this rise in cases.
As these challenges are tackled, the global management of polio is transitioning.
The responsibility is shifting from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, based in Geneva, to national immunisation and disease-surveillance programmes.
Despite some hiccups in this transition, the World Health Organisation is enacting a more nuanced, country-specific approach to ensure that this handover does not undermine the significant progress already achieved.
Joseph Swan, a representative from the WHO and the GPEI, said: “Simply having these new and better tools will not get us over the finish line – vaccination, not just vaccines, is what will end polio.”
Even with the breakthroughs, complete polio eradication remains a complex endeavour, particularly in the world's poorest and most conflict-ridden regions.
First Person
Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
The specs: 2018 Audi Q5/SQ5
Price, base: Dh183,900 / Dh249,000
Engine: 2.0L, turbocharged in-line four-cylinder / 3.0L, turbocharged V6
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic / Eight-speed automatic
Power: 252hp @ 5,000rpm / 354hp @ 5,400rpm
Torque: 370Nm @ 1,600rpm / 500Nm @ 1,370rpm
Fuel economy: combined 7.2L / 100km / 8.3L / 100km
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
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Biography
Favourite drink: Must have karak chai and Chinese tea every day
Favourite non-Chinese food: Arabic sweets and Indian puri, small round bread of wheat flour
Favourite Chinese dish: Spicy boiled fish or anything cooked by her mother because of its flavour
Best vacation: Returning home to China
Music interests: Enjoys playing the zheng, a string musical instrument
Enjoys reading: Chinese novels, romantic comedies, reading up on business trends, government policy changes
Favourite book: Chairman Mao Zedong’s poems
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