Ukraine has another case of paralytic Polio. This time in Zakarpattia oblast. An unvaccinated 12 year old girl. 4 other unvaccinated children are infected as well in the oblast. Those 4 other cases are connected to the earlier case that occurred in Rivne where an unvaccinated 18 month old contracted paralytic Polio.
Zakarpattia oblast was the site of the last Polio outbreak in Ukraine with 2 cases in 2015. Until the recent case in Rivne, those were the only cases of Polio Ukraine had seen since 1996.
Most cases of Polio are asymptomatic, only about 0.5% are paralytic Polio, so there likely is community spread occurring in Ukraine.
Ukraine uses a six-dose Polio vaccination schedule.
The 3-dose vaccination rate of 1 year olds is only 59.7% for Ukraine and 49.6% for Zakarpattia.
The full six-dose vaccination rate of 14 year olds is only 61.4% for Ukraine and 60.1% for Zakarpattia.
This number should be more like 85-95% for herd immunity. Ukraine is quite vulnerable to Polio outbreaks.
Why so few vaccinations?
In 2008 there was a teen that died after MMR vaccination and a bunch of misinformation tied his death to the vaccine. What was already an environment with low trust in government/health authorities due to Soviet hangovers and public corruption escalated into widespread vaccine hesitancy.
Russian disinformation has also played a role in spreading anti vaxxer sentiment. Many of these parents cite dubious religious beliefs as their reason for not vaccinating their children. Unfortunately some religious leaders in the country have been active in spreading vaccine misinformation.