Polio Pulse

Polio Pulse provides social listening insights to support GPEI’s polio interventions on disinformation, crisis communication, and strategic communication. Data is monitored from polio-endemic and outbreak countries and geographies classified by GPEI, covering 12 major languages spoken in these regions. The platform is managed by the UNICEF Digital Community Engagement (DCE) team.

Medium Risk

Headlines about an “imperfect vaccine” fuel doubts about efficacy

Geography
India
Nigeria
Themes
Effectiveness

Analysis

A handful of posts, mainly in India and Nigeria, misused headlines describing the polio vaccine as 'imperfect' to claim futility. One tweet read, 'Even UNICEF admits it’s an imperfect vaccine,' gaining over 5,000 views. Blogs went further, conflating reports of falsified records with efficacy failures. Although the scale was small, the framing of imperfection resonated with broader doubts about program effectiveness.

Recommendations

Differentiate between program management issues and vaccine performance. Communications should acknowledge challenges like falsified records while clarifying that the vaccine itself remains effective. In India and Nigeria, strengthen collaborations with mainstream media to ensure headlines avoid misleading phrasing. Provide data visualizations of coverage improvements to demonstrate progress and counter futility claims.