Polio In Rockland: Checking School Vaccination Rates

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — After polio virus was found in the wastewater of Rockland County's biggest sewer district, officials are double-checking on vaccination rates for local children, who are the most vulnerable.

The virus has paralyzed a Rockland County resident who came down with the U.S.A.'s first case of polio in a decade about a month ago. SEE: NY Confirms 1st Case Of Polio In U.S. Since 2013

Since then, people of various ages have been going to clinics and doctors to be vaccinated. SEE: 379 Polio Vaccines Given In Rockland After Resident Left Paralyzed

And officials have been checking on essentials such as vaccination rates at Rockland schools.

Most Rockland County schools meet state vaccination requirements — with at least 98 percent of students vaccinated against polio according to state health department records, county officials said.

Breaking down polio immunizations further, out of 144 public and private schools:

• 96 percent of schools are 90+ percent immunized
• 3 percent of schools are 80-90 percent immunized
• Less than 1 percent of schools are 79 percent immunized

On Monday, County Executive Ed Day met with leaders at the Rockland Board of Cooperative Education Services, which agreed to send letters to school districts about vaccination requirements.

Immunization information will be reviewed at the start of the 2022-23 school year to ensure compliance in all schools, public and private, Day said.

"Many of you may be too young to remember polio, but when I was growing up, this disease struck fear in families, including my own," Day said in a news release. "The fact that it is still around decades after the vaccine was created shows you just how relentless it is. Do the right thing for your child and the greater good of your community and have your child vaccinated now."

A viral disease that can affect the nervous system and cause muscle weakness, the polio virus typically enters the body through the mouth, usually from hands contaminated with fecal matter of an infected person. Respiratory and oral-to-oral transmission through saliva may also occur.

Polio is very contagious, and a person can spread the virus even if they aren't sick. Symptoms, which can be mild and flu-like (fatigue, fever, headache, stiffness, muscle pain, vomiting), can take up to 30 days to appear, during which time an infected individual can be shedding virus to others. Though rare, some polio cases can result in paralysis or death.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, before vaccines were available, polio outbreaks caused more than 15,000 cases of paralysis each year, with U.S. deaths peaking at 3,145 in 1952, the Associated Press reported. Outbreaks led to quarantines and travel restrictions. Soon after vaccines became widely available, American cases and death tolls plummeted to hundreds a year, then dozens in the 1960s. In 1979, polio was eradicated in the United States.

Survivors may develop post-polio syndrome 10 to 40 years after recovery from an initial infection. PPS is characterized by further weakening of muscles that were previously affected by the polio infection. Symptoms include fatigue, slowly progressive muscle weakness and deterioration. Joint pain and bone deformities are common. PPS is generally not life-threatening. There is no known cause or effective treatment for PPS.

Read the full state vaccination requirements for school entrance and attendance.