RICHMOND, Va. -- The investigation into a confirmed case of polio in New York state, the first case of the potentially deadly disease in the U.S. in a decade, was surprising for Dr. Melissa Viray, but she said there is no need for alarm here.
“If you’ve had the vaccine, you’ve had your full vaccine series, you are protected,” said Dr. Virgay, the deputy director of the Richmond-Henrico Health Department. “For me, in my world, it’s a concern because what that says to me is that we have individuals and pools of individuals who are not vaccinated.”
Polio, once one of the nation’s most feared diseases, was declared eliminated in the United States in 1979, more than two decades after vaccines became available. Around 90 percent of Virginia's three-year-olds, each year receive a full polio vaccine regimen, according to available CDC data.
The New York case, the only one confirmed at his point, involved an unvaccinated young adult who is now suffering paralysis, health officials said. The person is suspected to have gotten the disease from an individual who received the live, oral polio vaccine in another country. That vaccine has not been used in the U.S. this century.
The polio virus has now been found in seven different wastewater samples in two adjacent counties north of New York City, health officials said.
Based on earlier polio outbreaks, "New Yorkers should know that for every one case of paralytic polio observed, there may be hundreds of other people infected,” the state's health commissioner, Dr. Mary T. Bassett, said in a statement.
“If you have a highly vaccinated, highly immune population, it bounces off their immunity. It doesn’t go anywhere. If it comes in, but then it comes into a population that is not as immune, not as highly vaccinated, it can make its way into the population,” Dr. Viray said.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made many more aware of how viruses spread in the broader community, but Dr. Viray said it has also held back medical visits and standard vaccination tracks for many Virginia families.
“As we’re getting ready to go back to school, talk about making sure your kids are on their way to being up to date on their immunization, not just because it lets them get into school,” Dr. Viray said. “On top of that, this recent case of polio is a reminder that there’s a very good reason why we need to have those immunizations on board. So for both reasons, it’s really important I think that parents go ahead and get back to their providers.”
Virginia has a vaccine database so people can check their vaccination records if they do not have those documents available.
Even though the threat of polio is low here in Central Virginia, Dr. Viray said this moment shows why standard vaccine regimens were developed for a whole host of deadly or dangerous diseases, like polio or measles.
“These are safe vaccines and the diseases they prevent are pretty darn scary,” Dr. Viray said.
RHHD is hosting several back-to-school health events, where families can get school physicals and immunization records checked. The next one is scheduled for eastern Henrico from 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. at 1400 N. Laburnum Ave in Richmond.
Most people who contract polio do not show symptoms and severe paralytic reactions are rare, health officials said. Learn more here.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
