Following the detection of polio viruses in the wastewater of several large cities (including Dresden), the Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) recommends that parents and paediatricians check the vaccination status of children in particular. The aim is to close existing immunisation gaps in order to protect this particularly vulnerable group from infection. The Office for Health and Prevention of the City of Chemnitz points this out.
In Saxony and also in Chemnitz, the vaccination rate for children aged two is only 72 per cent. "It is therefore worth checking and completing your immunisation status now. No child should be paralysed today if this paralysis can be safely prevented by a vaccination," says public health officer Dr Hildegard Geisler.
Only a few people show serious symptoms when they come into contact with the polio pathogen. The disease often goes unrecognised. However, paralysis can occur in less than 1 per cent of cases. These often have long-lasting, sometimes even lifelong consequences. Children are more frequently affected by paralysis than adults.
A complete vaccination against polio offers effective protection against the disease. Children up to the age of eight need three vaccine doses, adolescents and adults need four vaccines at the correct intervals. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) provides the current flow charts for checking immunisation protection for children, adolescents and adults online.
Background:
Viruses in wastewater are a sign that there are unrecognised illnesses with the pathogen in the population. In recent weeks, oral vaccine-derived type 2 polioviruses have been detected in wastewater samples at several locations in Germany. The European region has been considered polio-free since 2002. (Source:
Epidemiological bulletin of the Robert Koch Institute from 12 December 2024)