Monday 8 August 2022 11:10 PM Children under 10 will get polio boosters as virus returns to UK for first time ... trends now
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Children under ten in London are set to be offered polio booster vaccines after the virus returned to the UK for the first time in 40 years.
Health chiefs declared a national incident in June after samples of the virus, which in the worst cases can paralyse or even kill, were found at a waste water site in London.
A major drive is now expected to be launched by the UK Health and Security Agency to ensure children are vaccinated or receive a booster in the capital.
An announcement about the vaccine rollout is expected this week, including details on which areas will be targeted. It is understood that children aged one to nine in Greater London will be offered boosters.
There have been no confirmed cases of polio in patients in Britain so far – but experts have suggested it has been passing from person to person because of the amount of poliovirus samples in sewage.
Children should have five doses of the vaccine between the ages of eight weeks and 14.
By the age of two, almost 95 per cent of UK children have had the correct number of doses.
Children aged one to nine in Greater London will be offered polio boosters as the virus spreads (file image)
But this drops to just under 90 per cent in London. When it
