This content was published on August 10, 2022 – 11:34
London, Aug 10 (EFE) .- All children between 12 months and 9 years residing in London will receive a polio vaccine after detecting the virus in wastewater, British health authorities reported Wednesday.
The virus, which causes paralysis and in some cases can endanger life, was found in these waters since last February in several neighborhoods of the British capital, for which the authorities have arranged an urgent vaccination program.
Polio was officially eradicated in the UK in 2003, but authorities noted the increasing number of samples found in the city’s sewage.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), in collaboration with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), found poliovirus in sewage samples in the areas of Barnet, Brent, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest.
According to authorities, the levels of the virus found in the wastewater and its “genetic diversity” suggest “some transmission of the virus in those districts.”
GPs will contact parents and caregivers in the next 30 days to offer them this vaccine.
The goal of the program is to reduce the risk that a minor could become infected and also to increase the level of immunity in order to make it more difficult for the virus to spread.
UKHSA epidemiology expert Vanessa Saliba said today that all children aged one to nine need a vaccine “now”, either “as a booster” or to keep up with their vaccinations.
He added that the risk of contagion for the majority of the population that is vaccinated is “low” but pointed out that it is “vital” for parents to ensure that their children are fully vaccinated. EFE
vg/ja/pi
� EFE 2022. The redistribution and redistribution of all or part of the contents of EFE services is expressly prohibited, without the prior and express consent of Agencia EFE SA
–
