NEW YORK (Washington Insider Magazine)- Health experts believe that polio is likely spreading unnoticed given that just one case of paralytic polio has been found in Rockland County, New York, and the virus has been found in wastewater samples from two other counties in the state as well as New York City.
Since polio can occasionally result in severe complications including permanent paralysis, meningitis, and even death, unvaccinated communities are particularly at risk.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advise giving children the polio vaccination in 4 doses, one each at two months old, four months old, between six and eighteen months old, and between the ages of four and six.
To enroll in kindergarten, children must currently have had all 4 doses of the vaccine or at least 3 of them. This rule applies to all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Although CDC data indicates that for the 2020–2021 school year, almost 94% of kindergarten-aged students in the U.S. had the polio vaccination, numbers vary by state.
According to data, Mississippi has the highest percentage in the nation, with 98.9% of kindergarteners receiving the polio vaccine.
The remaining four states—Louisiana, New York, but not New York City—Rhode Island, and Nebraska—make up the top five.
Only 80.4% of students in Washington, D.C. had their vaccinations in time for the start of the school year, which is the lowest rate.
Following Idaho, which has a rate of 86.6%, are Wisconsin, Hawaii, and Georgia, all of which have rates under 90%.
According to experts interviewed by ABC News, the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the major causes of the low vaccination rates.
They said that slack enforcement of the immunization requirements for school attendance resulted from parents failing to take their kids to regularly scheduled visits, which resulted in missed vaccinations.
According to the CDC, 16,000 paralytic polio cases as well as 1,800 polio deaths were documented annually between 1951 and 1954. The first polio vaccination was made publicly accessible in 1955.
Less than 100 cases were reported annually, a gradual decline from less than 1,000. In the Americas, polio has been declared eradicated by 1994.
According to experts, because polio is now so rare, few people recall a time when it was a widespread disease.
According to the experts, exemptions are probably another factor in the low rates.
For medical reasons, such as an allergy to a vaccine ingredient or a weak immunity system that would make receiving a vaccine dangerous, children may be exempted from vaccination in all 50 states.
Some jurisdictions, however, permit non-medical exemptions, such as those based on philosophical, religious, or personal beliefs.
For the 2020–2021 school year, 8.2% of kindergarteners in Idaho were exempted from receiving one or more vaccinations, primarily for non–medical reasons. Similarly, according to CDC data, 5.2% of kindergarteners in Wisconsin were exempted from receiving one or more vaccinations.
However, the Mississippi State Health Department reports that state law does not provide exemptions for religious, philosophical, or conscientious beliefs in Mississippi.
According to CDC data, just 0.1% of kindergarteners in Mississippi received exemptions for one or more vaccinations during the previous academic year, and those exemptions had to do only with health.
In a similar approach, New York State abolished non-medical exemptions to the polio vaccine requirement for students.
As a result, according to CDC data, only 0.1% of kindergarten-age youngsters in the Empire State were exempted due to a medical condition.
The experts recommended that communities be informed on the benefits and risks of vaccinations in order to lower these rates.
