Health officials in Israel report that at the end of the day Sunday, 5 Elul 5773, 27,000 children in southern areas received the polio oral booster vaccination. The program began in the southern area after traces of the virus were found in the Beersheva sewage system. In light of test results showing there are over 1,000 carriers and the discovery of the virus in other areas of the country, one million children will be receiving the vaccine nationwide, children nine-years-old and younger. The decision was made to play it safe and take the program nationwide as opposed to limiting it to the south.

Ministry officials are circulating among Bedouin communities in the hope of getting them to well care centers for vaccinations. The ministry is weighing the cost of using an SMS text messaging system to notify parents to have their children vaccinated.

Despite Health Ministry warnings and the discovery of the virus in sewage systems, there are already over 2,000 mothers who signed the “we won’t vaccinate our children” Facebook page, defying the instructions from the nation’s experts. They feel the booster is not a good thing and they refuse to have their children vaccinated because they feel introducing the virus into their systems places them at risk.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)