This is such a great story which I barely scratched for this Nature piece. The multibillion dollar, almost-success story that is going wrong. A disease that has almost been wiped out but is now undermined by the very vaccine that brought success so close. The vaccine’s Achilles heel is that it mutates back to a virulent form and seeds polio outbreaks wherever there’s a weak spot — such as kids missed in a vaccination campaign or poor sanitation.
Then a new idea comes along and, with it, a race to “lock” the virus vaccine so it won’t transgress again. Several groups of scientists get together, each with a brilliant idea — and each idea was included in the final product. All done at warp speed (by pre-COVID standards). Read it here: