Anti-Vaccine Propaganda about Polio in Gaza
It's easy to create misinformation about cases of vaccine derived polio...
An infant in Gaza has paralytic polio caused by a strain of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type-2.
“The Gaza Strip had a high level of vaccination coverage across the population before the escalation of hostilities in October 2023. However, due to the impact of the conflict, routine immunization coverage (for the second dose of inactivated polio vaccine) dropped from 99 per cent in 2022 to less than 90 per cent in the first quarter of 2024, increasing the risk of vaccine-preventable diseases to children, including polio.”
Humanitarian pauses vital for critical polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip
Since this was caused by a vaccine strain, it is easy to understand that anti-vaccine influencers would be all over the news!
Anti-Vaccine Propaganda about Polio in Gaza
The really troublesome part though, is that most main-stream news outlets aren’t really getting the story right either. All we are really hearing about is the WHO’s failed plan to remove the type-2 strain from the oral polio virus.
What’s missing?
“Wealthier countries now use only the injected vaccine, but the oral version, cheaper and easier to transport and administer, is still commonplace in poorer regions of the world.”
What We Know About the Polio Crisis in Gaza
The plan also included getting all kids vaccinated with the at least one dose of inactivated polio vaccine, which provides protection against all strains.
The New York Times, in their story about What We Know About the Polio Crisis in Gaza, leaves out the fact that kids in Gaza were getting the injected polio vaccine before the war! And that we can’t stop using OPV until polio is under better control, when we stop seeing cases of wild polio.
But why are we seeing so much vaccine-derived polio in recent years?
A big reason is that it has been challenging to get kids vaccinated and protected in many parts of the world - COVID pandemic, wars, natural disasters, etc. And it has been challenging to quickly respond to outbreaks.
But, if we stop anti-vaccine propaganda that scares people away from getting vaccinated and work to get everyone vaccinated, especially in the last few areas of the world with wild polio, we can still stay on target to phase out the use of oral polio vaccines everywhere in the world.
These cases of vaccine derived polio are certainly a tragedy.
“Cases due to wild poliovirus have decreased by over 99% since 1988, from an estimated 350 000 cases in more than 125 endemic countries, to just two endemic countries (as of October 2023).”
Poliomyelitis Key Facts
Still, everyone should understand that thanks to our polio vaccines, millions of kids are no longer at risk to get polio though!
And with a little more work, we can get polio eradicated.
References
Humanitarian pauses vital for critical polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip. https://polioeradication.org/news/humanitarian-pauses-vital-for-critical-polio-vaccination-campaign-in-the-gaza-strip/
What We Know About the Polio Crisis in Gaza. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/31/world/middleeast/gaza-polio-crisis.html
Poliomyelitis Key Facts. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/poliomyelitis