London, Europe Brief News- A million children aged between one and nine in London will be offered a dose of polio vaccine in an attempt to prevent the first outbreak of the disease in 50 years.
Health officials have warned there has been “some transmission” of the virus in the capital after detecting poliovirus in sewage samples in north and east London.
Rising numbers of cases have led the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to advise that a targeted inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) booster dose should be offered to all children in that age group across the capital.
The areas where the virus is present – Barnet, Brent, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest – will be prioritised, followed by rapid roll-out across all boroughs.
The NHS in London will contact parents when it’s their child’s turn to come forward for a booster or catch-up polio dose.
Polio is seen as a disease of the past in the UK after the whole of Europe was declared polio-free in 2003.
However, what is happening now is slightly complicated as the samples detected are linked to a polio vaccine used in other countries.
Parts of the world still dealing with polio outbreaks use the oral polio vaccine – which is safe, but uses a live virus.
This gives a huge amount of immunity, but has the potential to spread from person to person in areas where not a lot of people are protected.
