Why polio vaccine is important for children amid COVID-19 pandemic

Polio vaccine is important for children even as the world addresses an already big health issue which is the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

In an interview with GMA News Online, UNICEF Philippines immunization specialist Dr. Carla Ante-Orozco said the polio virus was “an important issue that must be addressed even amid the COVID-19 pandemic.”

She said even before the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s already a polio outbreak in the country.

After polio reemerged in the Philippines in 2019 with 16 confirmed cases, Ante-Orozco said health experts had been fearing an increase as the response to its outbreak had to be suspended due to COVID-19.

Ante-Orozco said the global pandemic was “overstretching health systems” and the longer it continued “the more that essential health services, including vaccination services are disrupted.”

According to Ante-Orozco, many children are not vaccinated amid the lockdown, adding up to the number who have missed their routine immunization in the past years.

Given this situation, “there has been an accumulation of susceptible children that are at high risk for polio and other vaccine preventable diseases.”

Ante-Orozco stressed that “protecting our children from diseases is everyone’s responsibility, parents, government officials, civil society, corporations, media—all of us have a role in immunization.”

“Immunization is one of the most effective and cost-effective ways to protect children’s lives and futures,” she said.

Ante-Orozco said that through vaccines, many were able to survive without seeing their family or friends die or suffer life-long disability from smallpox or polio.

What do parents need to know about poliovirus?

According to Ante-Orozco, polio is an infectious disease initiated by the poliovirus, which causes lifetime paralysis and death.

It is transmitted mainly through fecal routes or much less frequently by contaminated water or food.

“For example, if someone touches human waste contaminated with the virus, and then eats food without washing their hands properly, the virus could enter the body through the mouth,” said Ante-Orozco.

Polio affects mainly children under the age of 5 years old, although Ante-Orozco said it also occasionally infected adults.

She said there’s no known cure for polio and the only way to protect your children from it was through vaccination.

Ante-Orozco said if a population was not sufficiently immunized, the weakened poliovirus would continue to circulate, which is one of the factors that caused its reemergence.

Additionally, she noted that the longer poliovirus was allowed to survive, “the more changes it undergoes.”

“The polio outbreak in the Philippines is confirmed to be from a circulating poliovirus type 1 and type 2,” she said.

She said this was alarming since wild poliovirus type 2 was certified as globally eradicated in 2015.

Ante-Orozco warned that “poorly conducted immunization activities, when too few children have received the required 3 doses of polio vaccine, leave them susceptible to poliovirus, either from vaccine-derived or wild polioviruses.”

She said only “full immunization protects them from both forms of the virus.”

What do parents need to know about the polio vaccine? Is it safe?

According to Ante-Orozco, the oral polio vaccine or OPV is safe and effective even for newborn babies.

“It is the only proven protection against polio,” she said.

Citing the World Health Organization (WHO), Ante-Orozco said more than 18 million people had been protected from polio-caused paralysis in over 50 years of administering the oral polio vaccine.

She said the vaccine was safe and it was “essential to administer multiple doses of oral polio vaccine to children.”

The immunization specialist noted how the vaccine was designed to be administered multiple times to ensure full protection of a child.

“Each additional dose further strengthens a child’s immunity level against polio,” Ante-Orozco added.

Where can parents get their children vaccinated?

Ante-Orozco said caregivers and parents could take their children to be vaccinated in health centers or wait for UNICEF’s Sabayang Patak Kontra Polio vaccination teams to go to their homes.

For parents worried due to COVID-19, Ante-Orozco assured that their health workers were trained on infection prevention and control during polio vaccination campaigns.

She said the workers were equipped with personal protective equipment (PPE) to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

According to UNICEF, the total coverage for all 6 regions in Mindanao for the Sabayang Patak Kontra Polio mass immunization campaign is about 95.7% or 3.3 million children vaccinated.

Meanwhile, in Central Luzon, UNICEF said the total coverage of children vaccinated was 70.34% or 322,393 children.

They have also conducted campaigns in Basilan (67.5%) and Sulu (70.5%), which are their lowest coverages.

According to UNICEF, vaccination campaigns are still ongoing in Region 3 and 4A.

UNICEF noted that childhood immunization coverage had declined in recent years from 87% in 2014 to 68% in 2019.

What else can parents do to protect their children from poliovirus?

While vaccines are the only prevention and protection against poliovirus, Ante-Orozco said they always “remind families to wash their hands regularly with soap and water, use a toilet, consume food that is fully cooked, and drink safe water.”

“If the safety of your water is in doubt, boil it, ensuring it is bubbling vigorously for at least one minute before allowing it to cool,” she addes.

Additionally, Ante-Orozco said “cleaning one’s surroundings and practicing good personal hygiene are added measures that can prevent infection.”

The immunization specialist stressed that “all children, no matter where they live or their circumstances, have the right to survive and to access the best available healthcare—and we each have the responsibility to help them realize these rights.” – RC, GMA News