Izrael kampányt indít, hogy megakadályozzák az esetleges gyermekbénulás járványt

A massive campaign to administer the active polio vaccine to children in southern Israel was launched on Monday, after tests detected carriers of the virus in that area, though none were found to be ill with the disease.

As part of the campaign, authorities are urging some 150,000 children, ranging from the ages of four months to nine years, to be brought in for inoculation at local baby wellness clinics.

The Health Ministry determined the areas in which the inoculation drops would be made available on the basis of evidence collected throughout the country. Through feces specimens collected from sewage samples, 24 children under the age of nine were found to be carriers of the polio virus. They had not become ill, but they were suspected of spreading the disease.

„Some 1,000 people or more are carrying the virus at any given time,” Health Ministry Director-General Professor Ronny Gamzo said at a press conference this week. „It is an obvious system of dissemination, which was clearly reflected in the sewage samples. The data we received over the last month indicate that this was the right thing to do. We have a virus in the south, and it is being transferred from individual to individual. We are seeing an outbreak. The illness could erupt at any minute; that is why it is important to inoculate, and inoculate well.”

Professor Gamzo noted that 500,000 units of the vaccine have been ordered, in addition to another 500,000 that the ministry had already purchased. „Within a week, more or less, we will know whether we can stop at Kiryat Gat. We will continue to monitor [the situation] and see if evidence of the virus in Lod or Ramle requires us to launch a nationwide vaccination campaign.

„Under the current circumstances, the risks that the vaccine entails are minute. There is nothing to worry about,” Gamzo reassured.

Currently, every child born in Israel who is vaccinated receives the inactivated polivirus vaccine (IPV) by injection. The current campaign uses a weakened active strain, administered by drops, which is expected to provide better protection against the virus, and possibly more importantly, against its potential spreading.

Polio, a viral illness that can cause paralysis, is considered highly contagious but has been eradicated in most countries since vaccines were developed in the 1950s.

Most children around the world are now vaccinated at an early age with IPV as part of routine public health policy. The active oral vaccine is administered in places endemic for polio or where the risk of transmission is high.

A similar immunization campaign followed a limited outbreak of polio in Israel and Palestinian territories in the late 1980s, at a time when it was believed the disease had been eradicated in the region.

Health groups have said they believe they could rid the world of polio by 2018 with a $5.5 billion vaccination and monitoring plan.