Vaccination has been crucial for the control of certain infectious diseases. However, only two have so far been eradicated — the human disease smallpox and an animal infection called rinderpest. In both cases, the virus responsible was eradicated using a vaccination approach based on a ‘weakened’ version of the infectious virus (termed a live attenuated vaccine). Writing in Nature, Yeh et al.1 report their development of a live attenuated vaccine that might offer a way to eradicate poliomyelitis (polio).
Competing Interests
The author declares no competing interests.