The studies carried out through the organization of the Japan Live Poliovaccine Research Commission in 1961 and 1962 have provided data necessary for planning and prosecution of the vaccination program. The results will be reported in detail in the following papers. To facilitate the understanding each of the studies, general summary of the studies is given as follows:
It was amply confirmed that Sabin live oral poliovaccine has excellent immunogenicity and is quite safe. The vaccine employed in these studies was shown to have a minimal neurovirulence in monkeys as Sabin prescribed. No significant adverse clinical reactions were observed in vaccinees who were carefully observed. The vaccine viruses proliferated in the intestinal tract in a high percentage of vaccinees and a marked production of neutralizing antibodies against each of the three types of poliovirus was induced. Mass inoculation in the face of epidemic accomplished a dramatic decline of cases within a short period of time. Extremely rare cases with possible association with the vaccine were found among clinical cases occurring following the vaccination. In those cases the possibility of etiologic association of the vaccine virus could be neither denied nor con-firmed. It should be noted that the use of the vaccine was found to be very convenient and practical from the view point of public health administration.
Based on the results obtained by the two-year activity of the commission and the subsequent studies on various aspects of the vaccination, a routine vaccination program with live oral poliovaccine as well as the surveillance system of poliomyelitis cases were established, and the data so far accumulated indicate that eradication of poliomyelitis from this country seems very promising.
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