polio

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McConnell Bristles at 'Dangerous' Noise Over Polio Vaccine

GOP senator, who had polio as a kid, seems to hint that RFK Jr. should 'steer clear' of anti-vax moves

(Newser) - Mitch McConnell pushed back Friday after it was revealed that an ally of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Trump's nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, petitioned the FDA two years ago to halt the polio vaccine in the US pending further study. Axios reports that the 82-year-old Senate...

Ally of RFK Jr. Wants Halt to Polio Vaccinations in US

Aaron Siri, who's helping to hire health officials, calls for more study

(Newser) - An ally of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. petitioned the FDA in 2022 to pull government approval for administering the polio vaccine—used in the US since 1955—for young children until it's been studied more. Aaron Siri, a lawyer who worked for Kennedy's presidential campaign and is helping...

Major Polio Setback: Taliban Stops Vaccinations
Taliban: No More
Polio Vaccinations
Sep 16, 2024 1:43 PM CDT

Taliban: No More Polio Vaccinations

Afghanistan is one of 2 countries that never eradicated the highly infectious virus

(Newser) - The Taliban have suspended polio vaccination campaigns in Afghanistan, the UN said Monday. It's a devastating setback for polio eradication, since the virus is one of the world's most infectious, and any unvaccinated groups of children where the virus is spreading could undo years of progress. Afghanistan is...

Amid Mass Vaccine Effort in Gaza, Israel Keeps Striking

More than 12 are dead after Israeli air raids into Saturday, as health workers rush to control polio

(Newser) - Israeli air raids in the Gaza Strip killed more than a dozen people overnight into Saturday morning, hospital and local authorities said, as health workers were wrapping up the second phase of an urgent polio vaccination campaign designed to prevent a large-scale outbreak in the territory. The vaccination drive was...

Polio Vaccine Campaign Starts Before Pause in Fighting
Polio Inoculations Begin in Gaza
Aug 31, 2024 2:25 PM CDT

Polio Inoculations Begin in Gaza

Fighting is scheduled to pause for the campaign starting Sunday

(Newser) - A campaign to inoculate children in Gaza against polio and prevent the spread of the virus has begun, the Health Ministry said Saturday, as Palestinians in the Hamas-governed enclave and the occupied West Bank reeled from Israel's military offensives. A small number of children in Gaza received doses a...

Fighting to Pause for Polio Vaccinations in Gaza

WHO says effort will begin Sunday

(Newser) - The UN World Health Organization said Thursday that it has reached an agreement with Israel for limited pauses in fighting in Gaza to allow for polio vaccinations for hundreds of thousands of children after a baby contracted the first confirmed case in 25 years in the Palestinian territory. The vaccination...

In Gaza, a Case of Polio Is Confirmed
Polio Returns to Gaza
for First Time in 25 Years
UPDATED
Aug 24, 2024 12:25 PM CDT

Polio Returns to Gaza for First Time in 25 Years

10-month-old was not vaccinated against the virus

(Newser) - The 10-month-old child who contracted Gaza's first reported case of polio in 25 years has been partially paralyzed as a result, the BBC reports. The infant developed paralysis in one leg but is in stable condition, officials say. Humanitarian groups are continuing to push for a weeklong pause in...

Hepatitis Takes Hold, Polio Emerges in Gaza

UN says diseases are surging among displaced Palestinians amid Israel's war against Hamas

(Newser) - A disease mostly eradicated throughout the world is making a comeback among the wretched conditions throughout Gaza, where nearly all 2.2 million residents have been displaced. The New York Times reports that on Friday, World Health Organization chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus revealed that a poliovirus variant has turned...

Law Would Jail Parents Whose Children Aren't Vaccinated

Skepticism in Pakistan has turned violent

(Newser) - Authorities in one Pakistan province are turning to a contentious new tactic in the decades-long initiative to wipe out polio: prison. Last month, the government in Sindh introduced a bill, now in the final stages of becoming law, that would imprison parents for up to one month if they fail...

Gates Foundation Commits $1.2B to Ending Polio

Virus still spreads in Afghanistan and Pakistan

(Newser) - Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only remaining countries where the polio virus is in circulation. "The last steps to eradication are by far the toughest," said Mark Suzman, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which he said is committed to a global "polio-free future."...

New York Declares Emergency on Polio

Virus is detected in another county's wastewater

(Newser) - New York state reported a rare case of polio back in July, and no active cases have since surfaced. However, the virus that causes the potentially fatal disease appears to be spreading nonetheless, prompting Gov. Kathy Hochul to declare a state of emergency, reports NBC News . Her move on Friday...

'Alarming' New Find on Polio in New York State

After emerging in Hudson Valley, virus pops up in NYC sewage, suggesting local circulation

(Newser) - Polio appears to be working its way south through New York state, now making an appearance in New York City sewage after earlier showing up in wastewater in Orange and Rockland counties, reports CNBC . That suggests the virus is now circulating locally, spreading quietly among the unvaccinated. It's an...

'Hundreds' of People in NY May Be Infected With Polio

So says state's health commissioner after virus turns up in wastewater in a 2nd county

(Newser) - News last month of an unvaccinated man in New York's Rockland County contracting polio and suffering paralysis was soon followed by reports of the virus being found in wastewater there. Now, nearby Orange County has also turned up polio in its sewage, in samples taken from two different locations...

US Records First Case of Polio in Years
Polio Resurfaces in New York
Jul 21, 2022 3:34 PM CDT

Polio Resurfaces in New York

New York health officials say infection originated in a vaccine

(Newser) - A case of polio has been confirmed in New York state, the health department announced Thursday. The infected person has a type 2 vaccine-derived poliovirus, STAT News reports. The department gave the source as an oral polio vaccine, which hasn't been used in the US since 2000. Other countries...

UK Is Investigating Possible Polio Outbreak

Country hasn't had a confirmed case since 1984

(Newser) - Clinics in the UK have been put on high alert after a disturbing find in London's sewers. Authorities say multiple closely related samples of the virus that causes polio have been found in sewage water, suggesting there is an outbreak occurring in the capital, NPR reports. "The last...

She Relies on an Iron Lung, Is 'Desperate' for Parts

NPR talks to polio survivor Martha Lillard, 73

(Newser) - In 2017, we shared a Gizmodo reporter's experience visiting the last three polio survivors in the US who still rely on an iron lung for survival. One of them was Martha Lillard, who shared her worries about needing to conserve the canvas spiral collars she relies on to provide...

Urging Vaccinations, McConnell Brings Up Polio

Senator survived that disease as a boy, before a vaccine was developed

(Newser) - Sen. Mitch McConnell, who would have benefited from a vaccine for another disease decades ago, is urging his constituents to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. The Senate minority leader has recorded a 60-second radio commercial that began airing Thursday on 100 stations in Kentucky, CNN reports. When he was a...

For Just the 2nd Time, a Virus Is Eradicated in Africa

The continent is now free of wild poliovirus

(Newser) - "This is an incredible and emotional day," WHO Africa director Matshidiso Moeti said Tuesday as health authorities declared the African continent free of the wild poliovirus after decades of effort. The declaration leaves Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan as the only countries thought to still have the wild poliovirus,...

Global Rollout of New Polio Vaccine 'Largest' in History

155 countries will swap supplies in two weeks

(Newser) - As the world moves " closer than ever to ending polio," more than 150 countries are taking part in what the Global Polio Eradication Initiative calls the "largest and fastest" global rollout of a routine vaccine, NPR reports. The endeavor, which entails swapping out an older oral polio...

Polio Virus Lingered in Man's Gut for Decades

And that's bad news for children of anti-vaxxers and the developing world

(Newser) - For nearly his entire life, a 29-year-old man living in the United Kingdom has had the polio virus living in his gut—where the strain has mutated from the weakened form he received in a vaccine as an infant to a much more virulent strain, according to a study published...

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