Gov't needs to ramp up immunisation programme

COVID-9 has disrupted the immunisation programme and many other things. This is cause for concern now as it poses a threat to the international push to eradicate the dreaded polio disease. We need to put all measures in place to limit the possibility of a polio outbreak.

Polio fears?

30 Jul 2022

A CASE of the highly infectious polio disease, which was reported in the United States after a 10-year absence, is stirring concern among health officials that this awful disease, which was on the verge of extinction, could make a comeback.

And, in June, the UK was placed on high alert after polio was found in its sewer system. We are reminded that the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, launched in 1988 by the World Health Organization (WHO), in partnership with UNICEF and Rotary International, aims to sweep the earth of the disease by 2026.

Thanks to the introduction of vaccines and the cooperation of parents who were willing to have their children take them, it is estimated that more than 18 million cases of paralytic polio, and upwards of one million polio-related deaths, were averted.

Polio is an infectious disease that can cause paralysis and death. When polio was at its peak, it killed or paralysed thousands of people annually. The death dance was slowed by the introduction of vaccines and, today, polio is only endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where there is some vaccination hesitancy.

RESISTANCE TO VACCINES

There is no cure for polio, and this explains why health authorities have focused their attention on a programme of mass immunisation to control the disease. Spread through contact with faeces or respiratory secretions, polio can live in the digestive system and throat and attack the central nervous system with devastating effects. The world owes a debt of gratitude to the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation which has made eradicating polio worldwide a top priority.

The world witnessed stout resistance to vaccines in a number of countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. The deep mistrust of vaccines which sprung up around COVID-19 stands in strong contrast to the reaction against polio and other infectious diseases, such as smallpox. Countries were able to maintain high immunity against these diseases through vaccinating the very young. There is statistical evidence that those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 have fared better than those who were unvaccinated. Those who survived COVID-19 are living witnesses to the life-saving effects of vaccines.

The stout resistance to vaccines, often propelled by political, religious and social divides, is regrettably not the only challenge to coping with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Documentary evidence suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic caused an estimated 23 million children to miss routine polio and other vaccinations. This may affect the global effort to eliminate polio, and could even require that vaccines be administered way beyond 2026.

Whether it is polio, monkeypox or COVID-19, it takes just one traveller to transmit these diseases into a country - an event which can create havoc and misery. It means that countries like Jamaica, with thousands of visitors pouring into the island, should exercise extreme vigilance having due regard to its fragile healthcare system, both in terms of personnel and capability to cope with outbreaks.

It also means that the Ministry of Health and Wellness needs to ramp up its immunisation efforts, especially at the community level where the most vulnerable are located. It is also at the community level that immunisation programmes may come under the greatest stress.

If we have learnt one lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is that the entire world can be crippled by one infectious disease. We have also learnt that vaccines alone are not sufficient to deal with these challenges to public health. Compliance with a public health regime which combines regular testing and quarantining may be the key. It is an imperative that all efforts are made to ensure that these diseases are totally eradicated.

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