The health ministry of Israel has realized that limiting the polio vaccination program on the South may not be that efficient in curbing polio outbreak, thus it is expanding the two-week program nationwide beginning Aug. 18.
On Aug. 5, the health officials started administering free drops against polio to children born beginning January 2004 at not below three months old at the government-funded clinics located in the South. This is after a report came out that nearly 2,000 carriers were identified in the area.
On Sunday, the health ministry announced that the anti-polio vaccination program will be offered nationwide to fully eradicate the spread of the crippling disease.
"Beginning today, children born after January 1, 2004 will be vaccinated with two drops of a weakened live (attenuated) polio strain, throughout the country," the health ministry said in a statement reported by AFP.
The decision is made after detecting the presence of the virus in the sewage system of the country.
About 60,000 children or 60 percent of the children in the South have already received the vaccine since its launch.
Health Minister Yael German has a problem though as German parents residing in the area refused to have their children vaccinated as it is not part of the Western culture. He considered these parents attitude as "not socially acceptable" in a military radio interview.
The Izun Hozer group which is against the program had already filed a petition to the High Court to stop the program. The group would like the health ministry answer their questions about the type of vaccine given to the children. All they know is that it is a "dead virus". It was only tested on a small population in India but not on a Western environment.
Meanwhile, the Israeli health ministry has already ordered a million doses and aims to vaccinate the children through end of November.
