The Health Ministry is set to wrap up its polio vaccination campaign in another week and a half. While the campaign proved a success among babies, a majority of Israeli children aged 9 and over did not get the jab.
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To date, 96% of babies aged six to 18 months have been vaccinated compared to 81% prior to the campaign. The vaccination rate among toddlers aged 18 months to children aged nine increased from 69% to 73%. Among children aged nine to 17, however, the vaccination increased marginally from 3% to 7%.
In encouraging news, an analysis of sewage water in Tiberias and Bnei Brak has found traces of the virus to have declined since April.
Professor Hagai Levine, an epidemiologist and the chairman of the Israeli Association of Public Health Physicians, said: "When we analyze the vaccination with drops among children aged 9 and over, it's clearly a failure. There was a decision, and it wasn't implemented. So, either the decision was wrong or we failed to reach the public.
"It may be that we should have focused on vaccination … until the age of nine, where the problem is, because the main vectors are toddlers and young children, and if you do that on a large level, you'll rein in polio in Israel. I am encouraged by the high rates of vaccination that point to success," Levine said.
He emphasized the importance of examining various population sectors across the country "to ensure there are no pockets with low vaccination rates."
According to Dr. Lior Hecht-Sagi, a pediatric expert at the Health Ministry's Public Health Department, said, "We don't yet know how the vaccine will be administered after the campaign and what it will look like from a logistic perspective. Just because the campaign is over doesn't mean we're taking our foot off the gas."
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