Health and Human Services Logo

  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services | National Institutes of Health

Brief History of Polio

A map of the world in 1988 and 2020 showing the countries in dark purple where polio was still spreading for each year

A map showing the progress between 1988 and 2020 in the eradication of polio worldwide Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

1979

Polio eradicated in the United States.

In 1979, polio was eradicated in the United States thanks to vaccination. This means that there is no year-round transmission of polio and no cases of polio have originated in the United States since 1979. The polio virus can still be brought into the country by travelers; the last time this happened was in 1993.


1967
1994

Return to top