The detection of poliovirus in London’s sewage for the second time this year has emerged just days before the government confirmed it is eliminating all funding for the worldwide effort to eradicate the disease. Campaigners have labelled the withdrawal of support as “shortsighted and self-defeating,” warning it undermines both global health security and the UK’s own defences.
A Recurring Signal in London’s Wastewater
The latest positive sample, collected on 2 March from the Beckton Sewage Treatment Works in east London and reported by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) on 27 March, is the tenth such environmental detection since 2024. UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) officials conduct routine weekly wastewater surveillance across England, with these one-off findings not considered unusual. The agency stated the findings are consistent with importations and there is no evidence of local transmission, nor have any cases of paralysis been reported. The UK has been polio-free since 2003.
However, the virus identified is not the wild type but a circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2). This form emerges in a specific circumstance: when the weakened live virus used in the oral polio vaccine (OPV) is excreted. In communities with low vaccination rates, this excreted virus can circulate, mutate over time, and regain the ability to cause paralysis. There were 225 cases of such vaccine-derived virus reported globally in 2025.
Why Low Vaccine Uptake Turns a Detection into a Risk
This mechanism makes local vaccination coverage critical. Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said the repeated detections “indicate there is an ongoing risk that the virus is transmitting in the city.” He warned it is a “very worrying situation in communities with low vaccination rates, an ongoing danger to health in parts of London, as polio infection can be devastating.” The disease, which mainly affects young children, can cause irreversible paralysis and be life-threatening by attacking muscles used for breathing.
Polio immunisation in the UK has dipped slightly in recent years. Coverage for one-year-olds who have received all three recommended doses fell from 95% between 2012 and 2015 to 92% in 2022-23. The UK switched from using the oral vaccine to an inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) in 2004, which cannot cause vaccine-derived virus. However, the cVDPV2 detected is introduced through travel from regions where OPV is still used for outbreak control. Dr Kathleen O’Reilly of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine noted an increase in similar environmental reports from other European countries like Germany.
Dr Vanessa Saliba, a consultant epidemiologist at UKHSA, emphasised that while the risk to the general public remains very low, “parents should ensure their children are fully up to date with their polio vaccinations.” Health officials urge checking a child’s red book and contacting a GP practice to catch up on any missed jabs.
UK Abandons Historic Role as a Leading Fundraiser
The detection comes against a backdrop of stark cuts to the global programme fighting the disease. The government announced last week it was eliminating its funding for the GPEI as part of over £6 billion in international aid cuts, with the savings redirected to fund increased defence spending.
This decision severs a long-standing financial commitment. Historically the GPEI’s second-largest government donor after the US, the UK has provided £1.38 billion to the initiative since 1995. Its support has been credited with helping bring the world to the brink of eradicating wild polio, which is now endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, UK funding has been falling sharply; a 2019 pledge of £400 million for 2020-23 saw only £75 million disbursed by 2021, and a subsequent pledge of £50 million over three years represented a 70% cut from the 2019 commitment.
The GPEI has stated that any decline in support “increases the risk of prolonged transmission or resurgence.” Adrian Lovett, UK executive director of the anti-poverty group ONE, said the aid cuts were shortsighted. “No matter how wealthy a country may be, our defence against public health emergencies depends on our neighbours,” he said. “Not only do we have a moral responsibility to the world’s most disadvantaged people, but it also puts the UK public in greater danger.”
Wild poliovirus cases have declined globally, with 38 reported by late October 2025 compared to 62 in the same period in 2024. Yet cVDPV outbreaks continue, with 151 cases across 13 countries reported by the same point in 2025, demonstrating the persistent threat in under-vaccinated populations. The GPEI had already warned that wider funding shortfalls meant its 2026 budget was 30% lower than planned, forcing significant cuts to surveillance and outbreak response programmes even before the UK’s latest decision.