Oral polio vaccine to be given to all ages up to 10 in well-baby centers
Due to High Holidays, Health Ministry decides offer vaccine at centers that will have more openings than schools next month.
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICHpolio vaccine illustrative 370(photo credit: REUTERS/Oswaldo Rivas)
The Health Ministry announced on Friday it will offer the oral polio vaccine only in tipat halav (well baby) centers after consulting with the private logistics company Tefen.The ministry had originally intended to offer the vaccine in schools – to reach as many school-age children as possible – but due to the High Holy Days, the number of days schools will be open in September will only be 10. Tipat halav, which usually treats preschoolers, will be operating on more days throughout the month.The ministry also cited tipat halav nurses as being more efficient than those in the School Health Service, that many parents who are bringing their younger children to tipat halav will also be able to bring their school-age children.By Friday noon, 330,000 children around the country had received the oral vaccine, used to combat the wild virus that has spread into various parts of the country but without causing any people to contract the paralytic disease. Some 20,000 went for the two-drop attenuated- virus vaccine also that day.The ministry originally intended to vaccinate a million children born after January 1, 2004, over a period of three months, but now it hopes to end the campaign earlier at tipat halav centers, which will be open between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. until the beginning of the new school year on August 27.After that, they will be open during regular hours.
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