You can keep your children from getting polio by making sure they get the polio vaccine. A vaccine is a medicine you take to keep you from getting a disease. Second dose when they are 4 months old. Third dose when they are 6 to 18 months old. Last dose when they are 4 to 6 years old.
Vaccines carry a small risk of serious harm, such as a severe allergic reaction.
IPV can't cause polio because it does not contain the live polio virus. Most people have no problems. If your child has any reaction after getting the polio vaccine, call your doctor as soon as possible. Be sure to tell the doctors caring for your child the day and time your child received the vaccine. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1997.