UK health service launches polio booster campaign for kids

Immunization rates across London vary but are on average below the 95 percent coverage rate

The UK is introducing a polio vaccine booster campaign for children in London aged below ten. The move comes amidst confirmation that the virus is spreading in the capital for the first time since the 1980s. The levels of poliovirus found since and the genetic diversity indicated transmission was taking place in a number of London boroughs, the agency said. No cases have been identified, but in a bid to get ahead of a potential outbreak, GPs will invite children aged one to nine for booster vaccines, alongside a wider campaign already announced.

Immunization rates across London vary but are on average below the 95 percent coverage rate the World Health Organization suggests is needed to keep polio under control. Polio, spread mainly through contamination by fecal matter, is used to kill and paralyze thousands of children annually worldwide. There is no cure, but vaccination brought the world close to ending the wild or naturally occurring, a form of the disease. It paralyzes less than 1 percent of children who are infected.