Belarusian mothers are being scared by a polio outbreak in the country. Is it real?

Some are being scared that there's an outbreak of this very dangerous disease in the country (polio can lead to paralysis or even death). Others are simply told that there's a good French vaccine available now, and later there might only be Russian and Chinese ones.

According to the national vaccination plan, children in Belarus receive three polio vaccinations before the age of one, and revaccination at 7 years old. Mothers of children born in 2020 — who are now 5-6 years old — are reporting telephone calls from polyclinics.

Pediatrician and director of the Center for Modern Pediatrics in Minsk Nadezhda Dubatovka writes in her blog that there is no outbreak currently. And the real reason for the calls to polyclinics, the doctor believes, is scheduled revaccination: “Our country, like the entire European region, has been officially certified by the World Health Organization as a polio-free territory since 2002. The last case of the disease caused by a local wild virus was registered back in 1964.”

The pediatrician emphasizes that Belarus managed to achieve such a high status primarily due to mass vaccination. However, globally the virus continues to exist — and as long as there is at least one infected child in the world, the risk of importing the infection remains. Therefore, scheduled revaccination is the only way to maintain safety in the country.

Until 2016, Belarus used a combined scheme: first, an inactivated vaccine was administered, and then a live vaccine was used for revaccination. But afterwards, the country began to use only the inactivated vaccine. This was done to prevent rare, but potentially possible complications from the live vaccine.

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Nadezhda explains: in the event of an emergency in the country, there would be emergency immunization, which would concern all children, not just 5-6-year-olds. Additionally, prompt investigations into the occurrence of the disease would definitely be carried out (as it was at the beginning of the COVID emergence in Belarus).

In the event of a real polio outbreak, doctors would urgently start using the live vaccine specifically, as it works faster and more effectively.

Павялічыць

However, the pediatrician says: if a child is revaccinated before the age of 7, it will not harm them, and no problems will arise from it. But it's not urgent to vaccinate the child — one can wait until the age of 7.

Some specialists say that the reason for the calls is trivial. Currently, there is a large quantity of polio vaccine in Belarus nearing its expiration date.

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