Poliomyelitis is a highly contagious disease caused by the poliovirus that lives in the throat and digestive tract and invades the nervous system. The virus is found in the feces of infected people.
In its most severe form, it causes nerve damage leading to paralysis, difficulty breathing, and sometimes death. People become infected with polio by swallowing the virus.
This can happen when infected people don't wash their hands properly after going to the bathroom and then touch objects or food that may be in someone else's mouth. There is no cure, but there are safe and effective vaccines to prevent polio.
Vaccine Information
Health agencies encourage all children, adolescents, and adults who are not fully vaccinated to catch up with all routine doses of inactivated polio vaccine. The presence of circulating polio virus in London and New York represents a real threat to the world's unvaccinated population.
Most adults and children in Spain and Canary Islandshave been vaccinated and are therefore likely to be protected against polio. However, polio vaccination is recommended for adults who are unvaccinated, undervaccinated, or at increased risk of exposure to polioviruses, including international travelers, laboratory workers, and healthcare professionals. .
People planning to travel internationally should make sure they and their children are fully vaccinated against polio before they leave.
Polio vaccination recommendations:
The inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) protects against all three types of poliovirus. Polio immunization has been available since 1955 and has been part of the routine childhood immunization schedule for decades.
Children:
Four doses of polio vaccine, one dose at each of the following ages:
- 2 months old
- 4 months
- 6 to 18 months of age
- 4 to 6 years
Adults:
- Unvaccinated or unknown vaccination status: You should receive a three-dose series: Two doses 1 to 2 months apart, and a third dose 6 to 12 months after the second dose.
- Incompletely vaccinated (completed one or two doses of polio vaccine in the past): Must complete the 3-dose series of IPV (doses given at least 4 weeks apart).
- Fully vaccinated (complete series of 3 doses of polio vaccine as a child): You should receive a single booster dose of IPV if you are at increased risk of exposure to poliovirus.
Why is vaccination a priority?
Various European entities have echoed the latest infections, warning of the activation of cases worldwide due to the low dose of vaccination. The European Center for Disease Control and Prevention has spoken out to warn that there is still a risk that it will return to the continent and the world due to low vaccination rates, for which it is essential not to lower our guard and follow vaccination guidelines imposed by the health authorities.
In Canary Islandswe have a polio surveillance protocol which is available through the following link, click here to download. In this, as in all official documentation worldwide, it is urged to continue with the vaccination, ignoring the hoaxes against it.