The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that the United States has joined the World Health Organization's list of countries where the disease is circulating due to the spread of vaccine in New York.
The U.S. has been added to the list.
According to the CDC, the US has met the criteria to be added to the list of countries with circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses.
The U.K. and Israel are the only wealthy countries in the list.
In order for a country to be considered a country with circulating virus, at least one environmental sample and one patient need to be found.
A case of paralytic polio was confirmed in the state of Rockland County in July, comfortably meeting the organization's criteria.
There have been no new cases of the disease in the US at this time.
The director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases said that vaccinations were the best way to fight respiratory diseases.
The inclusion of the U.S. to the list of countries with circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses is a sign of the decline of American public health. Even though the U.S. doesn't use the type of vaccine that can lead to circulating vaccine-derived viruses, low immunization rates allow it to spread if it is reintroduced by a traveler. It used to be one of the most feared diseases in the country, striking down and disabling tens of thousands of people every year. Coverage has fallen to dangerously low levels due to an onslaught of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, disruptions to routine immunization during the Covid-19 Pandemic and distance from the consequences of contracting the virus. Despite the fact that there is no cure or treatment for the disease, the vaccine has brought it to the verge of eradication, though pushing it over the edge has proved more difficult than officials hoped. The use of the vaccine is complicated by the fact that one of the two types of vaccine uses a weakened live virus, which can't cause paralysis. The weakened virus can spread in communities with poor immunization levels, which can provide immunity to those who didn't get the vaccine, but can also cause paralysis in rare circumstances if allowed to spread. In some cases, this vaccine-derived strain can kill or paralyze people.
There is no cure for the disease and it is a danger. People who are unvaccinated need to get up to date on the vaccine immediately.
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