POLIO UPDATE
Could 2016 be the year of the final Polio case? One Polio Case reported this week. Sad news - Seven policemen, working to protect Polio Vaccination Teams in Pakistan, were killed yesterday by a splinter group of the Taliban in Karachi's Orangi Town area. Pakistan's Prime Minister released a statement saying "The officers sacrificed their today to secure the future of our coming generations."
Council On Legislation - "The big news last Thursday was the resolution proposal 16-118 to the RI Board presented by RIPE Germ. This resolution affirmed the eradication of Polio as a goal of the highest order of RI and passed unanimously & with a resounding ovation. For me, this was one of the most special moments of this Council." District 5890's PDG D'Lisa Simmons
The Big Switch - April 17 marked the beginning of the largest and fastest globally coordinated rollout of a vaccine into routine immunization programs in history. Between 17 April and 1 May, 155 countries and territories around the world will stop using the trivalent oral polio vaccine (tOPV), which protects against all three strains of wild poliovirus, and replace it with bivalent OPV (bOPV), which protects against the remaining two wild polio strains, types 1 and 3. This effort will provide better protection for children against polio, particularly those most vulnerable to infection and will reduce the number of vaccine induced Polio infections.
The Final Two Endemic Countries:
Pakistan - No Polio cases reported this week. Eight Polio cases reported in 2016 with 54 cases recorded in 2015 The most recent case, with the onset of paralysis on 03/22/16 was from the Bannu district, Khyber Paktunkhwa. One new Polio positive environmental sample reported this week. Sub-National Immunization Days are under way this week using Bivalent OPV - but were suspended in some security compromised areas due to the attacks on policemen.
Afghanistan - One Polio case reported in Afghanistan this week. Three Polio cases reported in 2016 with 20 cases recorded in 2015. The most recent case was reported on 03/27/16 from the Kunar Province. No new Polio-positive environmental samples collected this week. Sub-National Immunization Days and are underway this week. National Immunization Days are planned for May 17-20.