Health Department Highlights
Importance of Polio Vaccination

With Polio spreading from a case of a non-vaccinated individual in Rockland County, NY, the Otsego County Department of Health are highlighting the importance of vaccinating local children against this potentially debilitating disease.

‘Polio is a disabling and life-threatening disease caused by the poliovirus. The virus spread from person to person and can infect a person’s spinal cord, causing paralysis’ said the department in a press release.

With the school year beginning in less than a month and only 80.43% of the county’s 2-year-old children vaccinated against Polio (compared to 89.43% in Delaware County and 88.84% in Schoharie County) the health department is urging those who are not vaccinated or who have children who are not vaccinated to reach out to a healthcare provider immediately.

According to the CDC, polio outbreaks in the 1940s would on average disable more than 35,000 people each year. This number was drastically reduced in the 1960s ‘Following introduction of vaccines,…,the number of polio cases fell rapidly to less than 100 in the 1960s and fewer than 10 in the 1970s.’

See The Freeman’s Journal & Hometown Oneonta front page story ‘Polio Rears It’s Ugly Head’ by Dr. Richard Sternberg.

To learn more visit: cdc.gov/polio/what-is-polio/index.htm