By Mindy Cohn

To date, Rockland County has administered 14,071 polio vaccines since the single confirmed case of polio was detected in a resident during the summer.

Seventy-seven percent of the newly administered doses were for children between the ages of 0 to 4. 

"While certainly, the number of doses is a strong indicator that our messaging is having an impact," County Executive Ed Day says, "these vaccines are a series leaving us unable to know the full weight of impact until those series are completed, which is why it is crucial for schools and the New York State Education Department (NYSED) to maintain and enforce these required vaccinations." 

Rockland County remains focused on getting those unvaccinated or behind on their 4-dose polio vaccine series up to date, especially infants and preschool-aged children, as transmission only happens if overall vaccination rates are low.

"This administration has been addressing the topic of mandatory vaccinations with schools, both public and private, for months," says Day, "and all should be aware that strict compliance is expected." 

Recently, NYSDOH and NYSED released a joint letter to schools statewide, both public and private, of the need to comply with the law and the possible consequences that can result for schools found to be non-compliant. The letter also indicated audits are being conducted as well. 

The count of those newly vaccinated against polio comes as a new batch of wastewater samples from Orange County was reported as positive for polio after six weeks of negative results for the virus in testing throughout downstate New York including Rockland.

Wastewater testing for polio is ongoing in Rockland, Nassau, Orange, Putnam, Suffolk, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester counties and New York City.

Anyone who needs the inactivated polio vaccine can receive one free at the Rockland County Health Department clinic in Pomona on Mondays and Wednesdays by appointment by calling RCDOH at 845-238-1956.

Photo Credit: Flickr