Poliomyelitis Is an Enterovirus Acute Flaccid Myelitis and Enterovirus D68

The health department was able to isolate the poliovirus in the waste water of a number of counties including Rockland, Sullivan, Nassau, as well as in New York City.3 As a result, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared poliovirus a concern in that area and the New York State Department of Health issued an executive order declaring a state disaster emergency.4 In the words of New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett, “On polio, we simply cannot roll the dice. Clinically, most people will have arm or leg weakness and loss of muscle tone and reflexes;however, some can develop respiratory failure as well as difficulty regulating body temperature and blood pressure.6 There have been clusters of cases every 2 years—2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020 and now there is a concern for 2022 given the increased number of cases in Rockland.5 Polio is a preventable disease, so why are any cases of polio occurring? Nationally, by age 2 years, nearly 93% of infants born between 2017 and 2018 were vaccinated for polio.9 But according to the New York State Immunization Information System, vaccination coverage among infants and children younger than age 24 months living in Rockland County was 60.3% in August 2022.9 In some communities, coverage was as low as 37.3%,9 which according to the CDC, means that low polio vaccination rates in Rockland County mean there is a risk of more paralytic cases in that community.11 Interestingly, the polio vaccine is often touted as the posterchild of vaccine acceptance, with a 2021 article featuring a 1956 photo of Elvis Presley getting his polio vaccination as part of a March of Dimes campaign to convince teenagers to get vaccinated.12 Those old enough to remember the polio epidemic have often been vocal about emphasizing the importance of immunizations, with one such story detailing the experience of Jackie Wallace, an 85-year-old woman who is wheelchair bound as a result of the crippling illness that struck her 70 years prior.13 When speaking about her experience and the COVID-19 vaccine, she stated “I know the value of vaccines.