This year is shaping up to have a record-busting spring break travel season, with an estimated 171 million travelers preparing to fly in March and April—a 4 percent increase from 2025.
Between the combat operation in the Middle East and the government shutdown impacting TSA operations, travel mayhem was already underway when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Level 2 travel advisory for 30 countries on March 5.
The advisory urging travelers to “practice enhanced precautions” against the poliovirus in countries including Poland, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Tanzania is the latest challenge for travelers to navigate during an already busy travel period. As of March 9, the original list was adjusted to include the addition of Laos and Namibia and the removal of Finland, Ghana, Spain, and Zimbabwe.
Popular travel destinations recently placed under the CDC designation may be a good reason for U.S. travelers to check their vaccination status before departure. Here’s what to know about polio and the recent travel advisory.
When it comes to polio, prevention is key
There’s no cure for polio, which can cause paralysis, and, in severe cases, affect the respiratory muscles, and the current travel advisory is a reminder that the disease has not been eradicated. The CDC advisory has grouped together countries where the virus has been detected, either in environmental samples, such as wastewater, or in humans; however, it does not specify which countries fall into each category. Wastewater monitoring can detect poliovirus circulating in a region even when there are no confirmed cases.
Most people in the United States are vaccinated against the virus at an early age. It’s a four-part vaccine series, explained Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of infectious diseases at the University at Buffalo, and is meant to give immunity for decades, often lasting well into adulthood.
As a person in his seventies, Russo said he would get the booster if he were traveling to one of the 30 listed countries, but he said a group of 20-year-old spring breakers should get it too, in spite of the CDC’s somewhat noncommittal language that adults who completed the childhood series “may receive a single lifetime booster dose.” According to Russo, one booster as an adult is presently believed to suffice.
The virus, which is considered highly contagious, spreads primarily through contact with contaminated water containing feces. Food that’s been contaminated with feces or even polio-contaminated surfaces can also spread the disease. Russo stressed the importance of good hand hygiene in addition to staying on top of vaccinations.
Booster timeline and travel
Although widely available in the United States, the polio booster does require some advance planning. Side effects are typically minor, with some potential irritation at the site of the injection, noted Russo, but the “well-tolerated” vaccine takes 7–14 days for the immune response to fully ramp up.
For spring breakers with plans to travel to Europe or Africa on the horizon, this may mean making an appointment with a primary care physician or travel clinic without delay. Some pharmacies may also carry the booster, but you should call first to confirm availability. Russo said the vaccine is both “extraordinarily safe and highly efficacious.”
Because many of the countries on the list detected poliovirus through wastewater monitoring rather than confirmed human cases, the advisory may change as surveillance data evolves.
“I think it’s going to be dynamic where countries will come and go from this advisory,” Russo said.
Russo can’t say with any certainty how long the Travel 2 advisory regarding polio will be in place, but he doesn’t see it expiring before summer.
