Poster, 'Be protected. Beat Polio now', Poster advertising polio vaccinations. Line drawing of sugar lump on spoon.One of 800 health education posters produced for the Central Council for Health Education (1927-69), Health Education Council (1969-87) and Health Education Authority (1987-2000).

There is no cure for the disease polio so prevention is vital in stopping its spread. In most people, polio causes flu like symptoms, although in extreme cases it can cause permanent muscle paralysis.

To gain life-long immunity to polio, five doses of the vaccine are given at two, three and four months, forty months and between 13-18 years old. The polio vaccine, taken orally and sometimes on a lump of sugar, was available from 1954 onwards.

Vaccination programmes have been successful as polio has not occurred in the United Kingdom since 1993.