New York's Poliovirus Emergency Extended and Expanded

New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently announced the Continuing the Declaration of a Statewide Disaster Emergency until November 8, 2022, due to the ongoing spread of poliovirus in the State of New York.

On October 9, 2022, New York (N.Y.) Executive Order 21.1 revealed that genetically related poliovirus had been detected in wastewater samples collected from Kings, Nassau, Orange, Queens, Rockland, and Sullivan counties in April, May, June, July, August, and September 2022.

According to U.S. CDC, about 25% of people infected with poliovirus experience symptoms such as fatigue, fever, headache, stiffness, stomach pain, nausea, or sore throat.

And less than 1% become paralyzed. 

New York's recently confirmed polio case was in Rockland County in July 2022.

Governor Hochul's new Executive Order also disclosed vaccination rates against polio among 2-year-old children in N.Y. is about 79% and is significantly less than that in several counties.

For example, Orange County had a polio vaccination rate of about 58% as of August 2022.

To confront this under-vaccination issue, Hochul expanded polio vaccination authorizations.

Hochul has empowered midwives, paramedics, advanced EMS providers, physician assistants, certified nurse practitioners, and pharmacists to administer an expanded array of vaccines in N.Y.

And to ensure there is ample funding, N.Y.'s Heath Commission took action in late September.

Mary T. Bassett, M.D., M.P.H. Commissioner of Health, N.Y., issued a Declaration of an Imminent Threat to Public Health for poliovirus on September 28, 2022.

This Declaration expanded the availability of funding and resources to support immunization clinics, deploying vaccines to healthcare partners, and conducting outreach to unvaccinated and under-vaccinated New Yorkers to increase immunization rates.

Furthermore, N.Y. issued HEALTH ADVISORY Update #3 regarding poliovirus, which says unvaccinated New Yorkers or those not up to date with immunizations who live, work, go to school in or visit certain counties are at risk of contracting the paralytic disease and should speak with their healthcare provider about vaccination options.

And in New York City, sewage samples identified the presence of polioviruses on August 12, 2022, indicating a risk of community transmission.

The U.S. CDC published a poliovirus vaccine update on September 22, 2022, recommending children get four doses of any combination of inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) and trivalent oral polio vaccine (tOPV) or a primary series of at least three doses of IPV or tOPV.

And adults who completed their polio vaccination series but are at increased risk of contracting poliovirus, a one-lifetime Imovax Polio®; IPOL® IPV booster is suggested.

The U.S. CDC's website stated on September 15, 2022, that it is unknown how long people who received IPV will be protected against polio.

Therefore, children and adults should be fully vaccinated for the best protection against this disease.

Other poliovirus news is posted at PrecisionVaccinations.com/Polio.

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