Topline
Health officials in London said Wednesday the city will offer polio vaccine booster shots to children under 10, hoping to guard against a disease that can cause paralysis, two months after the virus was detected in sewage in London, and a month after New York confirmed its first polio case in almost a decade.
A community health worker shows a vial of a polio vaccine.
Key Facts
Children between the ages of 1 to 9 are eligible for the booster shot, according to the United Kingdom’s Health Security Agency, which said the additional vaccine will “ensure a high level of protection from paralysis and help reduce further spread of the virus,” though it added the risk of contracting polio is low.
The news comes after vaccine-derived poliovirus was detected in wastewater from North and East London between February and June for the first time in decades, with the amount of virus as well as its genetic diversity suggesting there has been “some level of virus transmission” that has “gone beyond a close network of a few individuals,” health officials said Wednesday.
The new booster program will focus initially on areas where the samples were found and where vaccination rates are low, followed by the rest of London’s boroughs, according to the Health Security Agency.
Tangent
The U.K. campaign comes several weeks after New York health officials revealed poliovirus had been detected in wastewater in Rockland County, N.Y., where an unvaccinated man developed paralysis from the first case of vaccine-derived polio in almost a decade in the state. In light of the news, New York officials in recent weeks have urged those who have not received the polio vaccine to get the shot.
Surprising Fact
Poliovirus has been eradicated in many countries worldwide thanks to intensive vaccination campaigns, but vaccine-derived cases have been increasing in recent years, including in some countries in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia. Those who have been vaccinated with the live virus can shed it in their stool, where it may spread through wastewater. The virus then has the ability to mutate and infect others—and potentially paralyze them—after contact with the contaminated sewage. Several countries still use a live oral polio vaccine, though experts are aiming to retool the shot to reduce transmission risk.
Key Background
Polio is a contagious virus transmitted mostly through contact with fecal samples and sometimes through coughing and sneezing. In the early 1950s before the polio vaccine was created, some 15,000 people a year would develop paralysis from the illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The last case of polio in the U.K. was detected in 1984, according to the Health Security Agency. As of 2021, 93% of people in the U.K. had been vaccinated against polio, according to the World Health Organization. Health officials in June said the poliovirus sewage samples most likely originated from a person who was vaccinated with a live form of the poliovirus overseas. Some 116 polio viruses have been found from 19 sewage samples in London from February to July, though most are less worrisome “vaccine-like” viruses, health officials said Wednesday. But the areas in London where the poliovirus has been spread in wastewater have “some of the lowest vaccination rates,” putting those in the community who are not fully vaccinated at greater risk, Vanessa Saliba, an epidemiologist at the U.K. Health Security Agency, said in a statement.
Further Reading
Around 1 million children in London offered polio boosters after virus is detected in sewage (CNN)
Polio Spread Detected In London Sewage For First Time In Decades (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/madelinehalpert/2022/08/10/london-officials-launch-polio-booster-campaign-for-children-after-virus-detected-in-sewage/