Fighting Polio in Palestine

The New York Times article “The Pivotal Decision That Led to a Resurgence of Polio” discusses the crucial choice made by global health organizations in 2016 to remove the Type 2 poliovirus from the vaccination. The oral vaccination that was given before 2016 contained weakened versions of the three types of polio. The Type 2 vaccine diverted virus spread to children who had not been vaccinated leaving a rare chance to cause paralysis. The chance of possible rare interactions occurring led the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to decide to remove the Type 2 virus from the vaccination after it was eradicated. This decision has been labeled by other Doctors as an “unqualified failure”. The change removing Type 2 came fast within 2 weeks, although there were still reports of vaccine-related outbreaks. The lack of a tentative response to these outbreaks is what makes the choice to remove the Type 2 vaccination a failure. Eight countries are experiencing outbreaks and are trying to combat them through vaccination. The outbreaks have continued to increase now reaching Gaza, an epicenter of war-related conflict which led to unsanitary conditions, leaving the population of children at high risk for Type 2 polio outbreaks. Before the war, the vaccination rate was 99 percent and now has dropped to 86, which will not prevent outbreaks in the area. As the war displaces many people the WHO set out on a campaign to vaccinate children against Type 2 with a new oral vaccination that lowers the change of virulence in the hope to control outbreaks. Children who have not been vaccinated previously are still at risk for Type 1 which is common nearby in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The WHO hopes to use other vaccinations in high-risk areas to control the risk of the potential spread of Type 1 and 3 (Mandavilli, 2024).

This article taught me that polio is still an ongoing problem, as someone who often stays in a Western Lens of thinking I had believed polio to not be a problem anymore. The article puts into perspective the detrimental impact a decision made by a global health organization could have on many countries. The organizations blame the failure of their decision on many factors such as the pandemic, derailed immunization programs, and limited availability. I am failing to understand why the change that removed Type 2 polio from the oral vaccination was done with such haste. When the realization that Type 2 was spreading in areas I believe immunization initiatives should have started earlier to control outbreaks. I believe that the article was great in putting into perspective options from doctors and other health officials regarding the magnitude of the damage the decision to remove the Type 2 vaccinations caused. I do wish the author would have gone more in-depth with possible initiates to combat polio in Palestine instead of leaving the article on the note that we “still figure out how to do that”. 

When the WHO contacted the Israeli Government to conduct a vaccination campaign the request was denied to start their campaign in the north and end in the south. They were instead instructed to start in the central zone and move north. This left the South, which has the largest population of unvaccinated children unserved. I understand that deep conflict has prevented the vaccination efforts in Gaza but it shouldn’t be viewed as a lost hope. As Americans, I feel we are very comfortable with other countries' failures in addressing public health as it “isn’t our issue”. We need to remove ourselves from this lens of thinking as public health is intertwined with global health. I believe more attention needs to be shined on the current polio outbreaks as these are real people suffering when there is a cure. The Social Justice and equity of the Palestine people are being violated each day a curable disease is allowed to run rampant in their country. The public health of many people is at risk if we do not spread awareness that polio outbreaks are on the rise. 

There is a deeper-rooted impact that the removal of the Type-2 vaccination caused. It caused great distrust among communities making them afraid to implement it again. When distrust is formed misinformation is spread about how the virus spreads and how the vaccination works. Distrust can have a worldwide impact causing vaccination rates to go down, which has been observed before such as the COVID-19 vaccination. I hope the Global Polio Eradication Initiative focuses on not just pushing the vaccination but also emphasizing the importance of being protected against polio. If we do not work to combat the stigma that was created surrounding the vaccination we might see a global public health crisis. I hope to see community-centered initiatives by global organizations to fight misinformation and increase the number of vaccinated children in Gaza and other surrounding countries.

References:

Mandavilli, A. (2024, September 7). The pivotal decision that led to a resurgence of polio. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/07/health/polio-vaccine-gaza-children.html