What you should know
- New York reported its first case of polio (or polio) in nearly a decade Thursday in an unvaccinated Rockland County patient; the patient had no recent travel history and is no longer contagious.
- The United States hasn’t seen a natural case of the once-feared childhood disease since 1979, which is when the country declared it eradicated.
- Only one vaccine has been used in the US since 2000: the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV); two doses provide 90% immunity to all three types of poliovirus, while three doses provide at least 99% immunity, the CDC says.
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NEW YORK — New York reported its first case of polio in nearly a decade on Thursday, and with the word “vaccination” entrenched on our collective fronts amid the COVID pandemic and now the monkeypox outbreak, many are trying to ensure they are protected against the dreaded childhood disease that The United States declared it eliminated more than four decades ago.
The case involved an unvaccinated patient from Rockland County with no recent travel history outside the country, officials said. Although most Americans are vaccinated against polio, experts say the case should serve as a wake-up call for those who are not.
Although the patient was not vaccinated, the patient had a vaccine-derived strain of polio, possibly contracted from someone who had received a live or oral polio vaccine (OPV). The United States has not administered them since 2000 and only uses the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), which is the one recommended by the CDC.
“This is not normal. We don’t want to see this,” Jennifer Nuzzo, a pandemic activist at Brown University, told the Associated Press of the confirmed case in New York. “If you’re vaccinated, it’s not something you need to worry about. But if you have not vaccinated your children, it is very important that you make sure they are up to date.”
So what should you know about the vaccination schedule? Here’s what the CDC says for US children and adults.
CDC Polio Vaccine Guide
All American children should receive four doses of IPV in total. One dose should be administered at each of the following ages or within the ranges: 2 months, 4 months, 6-18 months, 4-6 years. Children traveling to a country where the risk of polio is higher than here should be fully vaccinated before leaving. The CDC has alternative options if there is not enough time.
Most adults don’t need the polio vaccine because they already had it as a child. But the CDC says some adults are at higher risk: those who travel to high-risk areas for polio, work in labs and handle samples that might contain poliovirus, and health care workers who treat patients who might have polio or are close contacts. of infected people.
Adults in applicable situations should get three doses of IPV, the CDC says. Adults at higher risk of exposure who have already completed their routine polio vaccination series can receive a booster dose of IPV for life, according to the CDC.
The IPV that has been used in the United States since 1987 is as effective as OPV in preventing polio, the CDC says. Two doses of IPV provide 90% immunity to all three types of poliovirus, while three doses provide at least 99% immunity, the agency says.
This after a case was detected in an adult patient who had not been vaccinated against polio during childhood.
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