Polio Virus Spreads From South To Northern Israel
Children across Israel were vaccinated with a live strain of the Polio virus to help create immunity among the general population. Image by Getty Images
A strain of the polio virus was found in waste water near Hadera, meaning that the virus has spread to the north of Israel.
The discovery comes two weeks into a national vaccination project to innoculate all Israeli children ages nine and under with a weakened form of the live virus. The vaccination project, scheduled to last three months, has been expanded from southern Israel to central and northern Israel.
As of Wednesday, 182,000 children have been vaccinated with the live virus. The children already have been inoculated against polio in their regular childhood vaccinations.
The campaign is in response to the discovery in May of the polio virus in wastewater in Israel’s South that reportedly had been there since February. The virus was found about a month ago in wastewater in central Israel.
The purpose of the extra vaccine is to pass the weakened virus to adults with whom the children come into contact who may not previously have been vaccinated.
It is believed the virus was brought to Israel from Egypt; polio was discovered in sewage in Egypt in December. The same virus also is prevalent in Pakistan.
Israel experienced its last case of polio in 1988.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
