I posted on my Facebook page on 22nd June about the breaking news that polio virus had been found in sewage samples in London. An update posted on the UKHSA website today informs that following the discovery of type 2 vaccine-derived poliovirus in sewage in north and east London, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised that a targeted inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) booster dose should be offered to all children between the ages of 1 and 9 in all London boroughs. No clinical cases of polio have been reported to date, but the virus can cause a paralysis and by initiating this vaccination campaign in London, it will ensure a high level of protection from paralysis and help reduce further spread of the virus. Nationally the overall risk of paralytic polio is considered low because most people are protected from this by vaccination. The news story for this is found on the UKHSA website here.
A great new leaflet for parents explaining the importance of this action has been published here and it's also available to download in other languages from the Health Publications website. Copies available to order are in Albanian, Arabic, Bengali, Bulgarian, Chinese, Chinese (simplified), Estonian, Hindi, Gujarati, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Panjabi, Pashto, Russian, Spanish, Somali, Turkish, Tigrinya, Ukrainian, Urdu, Yoruba and Yiddish. It is also available as a braille, British Sign Language (BSL) and large print copy. The collection is a fantastic resource.
Vaccines used will be Infanrix hexa, Vaxelis, Boostrix-IPV and Revaxis. Revaxis can be given to children 6 years and older and the PGD updated yesterday for revaxis, included information within the inclusion criteria section for case management in an outbreak situation - see here. You will find the details of legal mechanisms available to administer the vaccines in the important guidance link above or here.
Details of delivery of the immunisation programme have not yet been announced in detail, The guidance so far says the following:
Communication for general practice and other immunisation providers about the IPV booster campaign roll-out: NHS London will communicate through existing routes to ensure that vaccine providers are kept up to date with operational delivery matters relating to the IPV booster campaign.
There's a really helpful video about this polio situation (filmed before the announcement of the vaccination plans) which explains it really well. See here.
