- Sam Cabral
- BBC News, Washington
4 hours
image source, Getty Images
Health officials in New York state want to increase vaccination rates.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency over the spread of the polio virus in the state.
Health officials have said samples collected in New York City and four surrounding counties have tested positive for the presence of a poliovirus with the potential to cause paralysis.
Although only one case of the virus has been confirmed so far, it is the first in the country in more than a decade.
Polio was mostly eradicated from the US through vaccinations that began in 1955.
By 1979, the US had been declared polio free.
But according to New York officials, vaccination rates are very low in some parts of the state.
The emergency declaration that was issued this Friday is aimed at increasing immunization rates.
There is no cure for polio, but its spread can be prevented with a vaccine. It mostly affects children, and usually causes weakness and paralysis, and in the most serious cases, disability and death.
The New York Department of Health said it is seeking to increase vaccination rates from the current 79% average to more than 90%.
“With polio, we just can’t leave things to chanceHealth Commissioner Mary Bassett said in a statement. “If you or your child are not vaccinated or up to date on vaccinations, the risk of disabling disease is real.”
He added that “for every case of paralytic polio observed, there may be hundreds of infected people.”
The vaccine
An inactivated polio vaccine is used in both the US and the UK as part of the routine childhood schedule.
In the US, 93% of babies have been inoculated with at least three doses of the polio vaccine, according to vaccination data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). .
image source, John Lamparski
It is the third alert declared by Governor Hochul in New York, following the covid pandemic and the cases of monkeypox.
Authorities have begun monitoring sewage in the state for traces of poliovirus following an unvaccinated man in Rockland County, north of New York City, contracted the virus in July – the first case has been registered since 2013 – and was paralyzed.
The case was later genetically linked to paralytic polio that was found in a sewage sample collected in August in Nassau County.
Sewage samples collected from Orange and Sullivan counties and all five boroughs of New York City also tested positive for paralytic polio.
The emergency order issued by Governor Hochul on Friday is the third declared this year, following similar orders issued in response to the coronavirus pandemic and monkeypox.
The order gives emergency powers to medical workers, midwives and pharmacists to join the network of providers who can inoculate the vaccine.
