--- title: CDC Africa Nears Polio Eradication After Nigeria Vaccination Campaigns description: Vaccination efforts in northern Nigeria have nearly eradicated polio from Africa, the CDC revealed Thursday canonical: https://time.com/3597557/africa-polio-eradication-cdc/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-20T19:00:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:19.452Z article:section: Health og:title: Africa Nears Polio Eradication, CDC Says og:description: Health officials credit successful vaccination efforts in Nigeria og:url: https://time.com/3597557/africa-polio-eradication-cdc/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta2ceed4441fdd428/69876a02a988ca097b6aadef/africa-polio-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2500 og:image:height: 1406 og:image:alt: German Minister Mueller Travels Nigeria og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Africa Nears Polio Eradication, CDC Says twitter:description: Health officials credit successful vaccination efforts in Nigeria twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta2ceed4441fdd428/69876a02a988ca097b6aadef/africa-polio-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Africa Nears Polio Eradication, CDC Says > Sponsored content. 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Meet The CDC Doctors Fighting Ebola_  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Nov 20, 2014 7:00 PM UTC  German Development Minister Gerd Mueller vaccinates a child against polio in a hospital on June 11, 2014 in Abeokuta, Nigeria. German Development Minister Gerd Mueller vaccinates a child against polio in a hospital on June 11, 2014 in Abeokuta, Nigeria. Thomas Imo—Getty Images  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Nov 20, 2014 7:00 PM UTC **Correction appended, November 21, 2014** Wild poliovirus has nearly been eradicated in Africa thanks to successful vaccination efforts in Nigeria, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed in a new report Thursday. No case of polio has been recorded on the continent since August, the report finds. There have been 22 cases of polio in Africa overall since the beginning of 2014, six of which were in Nigeria, one of the last three endemic nations alongside Pakistan and Afghanistan. The latest tally marked a drastic reduction from 49 cases in Nigeria the previous year. That drop has been credited to vaccination campaigns in the country’s restive northern states, where a decade of periodic outbreaks had reintroduced the virus to 26 polio-free countries. “Interrupting all poliovirus circulation in Nigeria is achievable,” the report finds, but only with expanded vaccination coverage to some of the region’s most remote and hard-to-reach communities. _Correction: The original version of this article misstated the total number of polio cases across Africa and how many countries were affected. There were 22 cases in Africa since the beginning of 2014 and the virus was reintroduced to 26 polio-free countries since 2003._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3597557/africa-polio-eradication-cdc/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3597557/africa-polio-eradication-cdc/"},"headline":"Africa Nears Polio Eradication, CDC Says","datePublished":"2014-11-20T19:00:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:00:19.452Z","description":"Health officials credit successful vaccination efforts in Nigeria","url":"https://time.com/3597557/africa-polio-eradication-cdc/","keywords":["Infectious Disease","polio"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta2ceed4441fdd428/69876a02a988ca097b6aadef/africa-polio-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta2ceed4441fdd428/69876a02a988ca097b6aadef/africa-polio-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"German Minister Mueller Travels Nigeria","caption":"German Minister Mueller Travels Nigeria","creditText":"Thomas Imo—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/infectious-disease/","name":"Infectious Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3597557/africa-polio-eradication-cdc/","name":"Africa Nears Polio Eradication, CDC Says"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Meet The CDC Doctors Fighting Ebola","description":"Meet The CDC Doctors Fighting Ebola","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/G194AmTC/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-13T23:41:12.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/G194AmTC.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3597557/africa-polio-eradication-cdc/","duration":"PT2M32S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3597557/africa-polio-eradication-cdc/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```