The Health Ministry is preparing to start a polio vaccination campaign, under the auspices of which nearly all children in Israel ages nine to 17 will be called in to complete their vaccinations.
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The ministry expects the drive to include some 2 million children and pose the same difficulties as the campaign to vaccinate children against COVID.
In the last few weeks, Jerusalem district health officials have been reaching out to ensure that children in the capital are vaccinated after the virus – which primarily affects children – was identified in Israel for the first time since 1989.
On Monday, head of public health services at the Health Ministry Dr. Sharon Elroi-Preiss held a webinar for pediatricians and Israel's healthcare providers to educate them about the upcoming vaccination drive.
One of the challenges with which the ministry will have to cope will be to persuade parents to bring children to community clinics and well-baby centers, after only some 25% of children ages five to 11 were vaccinated against COVID. The ministry is concerned about "vaccine fatigue" among the general public, as well as among medical workers.
Another tricky point is that the ministry wants every child to receive the exact number of polio vaccines he or she is missing. Since children born in different years were vaccinated according to different protocol, each child's records will have to be checked so medical staff can administer the correct vaccine dose or doses.
In addition, polio vaccines are administered at well-baby clinics, community clinics, or HMOs, and there is no single database available.
The ministry has published its criteria for follow-up polio shots. Children ages nine to 17 (born from 2005-2013) who have only received a single vaccine dose will be summoned for at least one additional dose. Current assessments say 90% of children in this age group will need additional shots. Children age eight and under (born in or after 2014) who have not yet received two doses of the live attenuated vaccine will also need to be vaccinated.
The LAV is administered only to children who have received at least two doses of inactivated vaccine.
Israel's current polio vaccine protocol includes four doses of inactivated vaccine, administered by injection, in the child's first year, as well as a booster for second-graders and two additional shots at well-baby clinics. Two doses of inactivated vaccine provide 90% protection against the paralysis that can develop from polio, and children who have received all their vaccines are considered fully protected against symptomatic polio. Children who have not received the live attenuated vaccine can still carry and transmit the virus.
Dr. Lior Hecht-Sagi of the Public Health Headquarters at the Health Ministry said, "In the vaccine completion program, we're looking at exactly which doses need to be completed for each child. Every year group is different, and there is a need to vaccinate over 2.5 million kids."
Meanwhile, a Health Ministry representative told the Knesset Channel on Monday that nearly 100% of children in the ultra-Orthodox enclave of Mea Shearim in Jerusalem had been vaccinated against polio – a considerable achievement in a neighborhood where some residents refuse to cooperate with Israeli authorities.
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