Children aged 1-9 in LONDON to be offered polio vaccine

[Dalint]

www.independent.co.uk/news/health/polio-vaccine-children-london-outbreak-b2142219.html?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=IND_Breaking_News%20polio&utm_term=IND_Breaking_Newsletter

Why only London?

Why boost them?

Maybe it's just easier to just give everyone a booster than try and figure out who missed a dose, particularly if you have children who may have had some vaccines abroad.
But thats just a guess.

Why didn't they give boosters before?

I'm trying to understand why, children who are already vaccinated, are now being offered an additional vaccine of the same vaccine!

Either, they know that the typical one given does not work or they have discovered that it does not work!

Traditionally London has a very poor history of take up for vaccinations. Lots of reasons, a very mobile population, a very mixed population, poor general health access via gp. In addition there are a lot of multigenerational families, quite often in overcrowded and sub standard accommodation. If polio gets a toe hold anywhere it will be in London.

Are children more at risk than adults?

You'd think adults might be offered a booster in affected areas as they'd been vaccinated much longer ago and it might be wearing off. Plus there are a lot of immigrants with possibly unknown vaccination status, although I'm sure polio is likely to be on most routine schedules around the world.

Why only London?

Because they can't just suddenly vaccinate the entire county and so far this is the only place it's been found. If it spreads they will likely widen the vaccine area as necessary

I'm surmising that it causes defects if contracted as a child, but has less effect on adults. I have no knowledge of polio apart from the neighbour down the road with one short leg.

Does it run out?

I ask as I had the MMR vaccine as a child, but when pregnant 2 years ago was checked and wasn’t immune to Rubella anymore, although was still for measles and mumps. Apparently it’s very common, and they generally only last 10-15 years ( I guess I had mine 30 years ago as a baby).

I was told to avoid people with Rubella whilst pregnant ( as if you would ever know who!), and they gave me a top up vaccination the day after Ds was born.

As polio is in baby vaccine schedule, I would assume is worse for those over 20 years who probably aren’t immune anymore

The last in the normal boosters for polio is at 14 so this extra one will provide more cover sooner.

at the moment the risk in minute and they want to keep it that way

I had mine on a sugar cube I'm sure. I remember thinking 'why can't they all be like that?'.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/polio/

That's me done with public toilets!!!!!!!!!!!!

My guess it is due to current vaccine rates within London.

The data probably showing vaccine rates are too low so as way to ensure that contracting polio stays low there is a need to offer vaccines again to certain age groups that didn’t take it up or missed?

Oh dear. This makes it sound like you don’t understand vaccines.

Polio kills or leads to life long disability. My uncle died of polio at the age of three. Google iron lungs. Google pictures of children in callipers. Google how many children have died of polio.

If it’s in the sewage, it’s because it’s coming out of people’s bodies. Questioning why that’s an indicator of a possible problem makes you look like a complete plum.

It is re-emerging because of people like you who have weird views about public health and vaccines and aren’t following the vaccination schedule we have in place. It’s shocking that in a period when we have better medicine and have so much scientific knowledge that laypeople think they know best and don’t take advantage of literally lifesaving opportunities.

Misinformation, @dehloh .

It is circulating in the population. The traces found in sewage ARE NOT from vaccination, they've mutated a bit so must have been in people as well.

The vast majority of the time, Polio is a mild illness that causes no problems. You wouldn't go to the doctor if you were ill with Polio. It occasionally results in the severe cases and symptoms.

The vaccination will make sure it never circulates widely enough for there to be severe cases.

Ok, so symptoms are these:

are not able to move part, or all, of your body – the body part may also feel stiff, floppy or numb
are having difficulty breathing or are breathless

www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/infections-and-poisoning/polio

www.nhs.uk/conditions/polio/

I'm on another thread with a lady who has some of the above symptoms? Should I keep my mouth shut or suggest it to her?

Pardon?

I understand vaccines. What I don't understand is why a booster is being given when we all presumed that the vaccine covered us??? That clear enough PLUM?

Btw I'm not a layperson. You however, clearly can't read.

From OP's link:
"About 95% of people with polio won't have any symptoms and will fight off the infection without even realising they were infected.
A small number of people will experience a fluu_-like illness 3 to 21 days after they're infected."
They monitor the sewage for exactly this situation, so if it starts to circulate we know before the cases of paralysis and breathing issues show up.

@picklemewalnuts just what I was about to say. Check your facts before you misinform @dehloh. Do you think they're adding to the NHS workload for the fun of it? Kids are vaccinated at 8, 12 and 16 weeks and then not again until 3 years 4 months and then about 14/15. I remember not being able to have mine because my grandparent was having chemo at the time, but i went back for it later. The polio strains found have mutated so not just from people who have been vaccinated.

Because lots of children missed their vaccine, and because some adults who weren't here as children won't have had theirs.

I obviously can read, and can’t see where I have mentioned anything not in your posts. But if you aren’t a layperson, I’m baffled about the need to post your questions here - because if you work in healthcare, you must have knowledge and access to information in a professional capacity, which would be much more informative and reliable than the opinions of people on an anonymous forum which is free for anyone to join.

Why are people allowed to travel here who haven't been vaccinated against everything we are vaccinated against? For e.g. if I want to travel to Africa, there is a list of vaccines that I need to get before going there. Why not the same for coming here?

All people born in the U.K. would have been offered vaccinations but there's hotspots of vaccine refusal and certain London communities are particularly under vaccinated - offering blanket vaccination means nobody feels singled out. If your dc are fully vaccinated then there's no need to worry

Yes of course they can. You need to get vaccinated to go to certain places to stop you dying from yellow fever or malaria, not to stop you taking an illness there yourself

Why then, dear know-it-all, are children, who are already vaccinated, being given another vaccine for something they're already vaccinated against?

I'm sorry but roll it out to those then! I don't want children receiving a vaccine they don't need so as to not offend those not vaccinated?