More Than 20 Million Children In Syria, Nearby Regions To Be Vaccinated Against Polio.

The following article is from The American Thoracic Society.  Thanks Gwen Scottgale for alerting all of us to this!

In what appears to be the largest joint immunization effort ever initiated in the Middle East, Reuters (11/8, Nebehay, Kelland) reports that health workers carrying the polio vaccine hope to reach some 20 million children residing in Syria and neighboring nations. Constant conflict and the mass exodus of people fleeing the fighting continues to impede such campaigns. Hence, the current outbreak.

The United Nations says 10 children have already been left paralyzed and the scourge “poses a threat to hundreds of thousands across a region that had not seen polio for nearly a decade,” the Los Angeles Times (11/8, McDonnell) reports. According to the UN and its health arm the WHO, the situation prompted an “emergency drive” during which 650,000 children in Syria were protected from polio and other infectious ailments like measles and mumps. Altogether, health workers are “targeting 2.4 million” children within Syria and refugees in Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon. Immunization campaigns are also expected to occur in Gaza and the West Bank.

The Red Crescent will be largely responsible for efforts inside Syria, the AP (11/11) reports.

Meanwhile, “two German infectious disease experts warned vaccination efforts of Syrian refugees might not be enough to prevent the infection from spreading to Europe,” CBS News (11/11) reports. Professor Martin Eichner, from the University of Tbingen, and Stefan Brockman, of the Reutlingen Regional Public Health Office, explained that a number of nations still have “low vaccination coverage, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, and Austria.” In other words, should polio find its way into these areas, “herd immunity might not be enough to prevent an outbreak.”


Nonetheless, reports BBC News (11/8), UNICEF’s Peter Crowley says: “[This] is not just a tragedy for children, it is an urgent alarm – and a crucial opportunity to reach all under-immunised children wherever they are.” He also explained that the “new cases in Syria were a “stark reminder” that children are particularly vulnerable to the disease.”