Newham residents are being urged to ensure their polio vaccines – particularly for children – are up to date after an outbreak of the virus was detected in sewage samples at the Beckton sewage treatment works.

A national incident was declared by the UK Health Security Agency in June after traces of the virus were found during a routine sewage check at Beckton, the largest sewage treatment centre in Europe.

There is no immediate health risk, say experts, because it is normal for the virus to be picked up as isolated cases and not detected again, but concerns were raised after several genetically-linked viruses were found in samples between February and May.

Previously, the virus has been picked up when a person vaccinated overseas with the live oral polio vaccine (OPV) returned or travelled to the UK and briefly shed traces of the vaccine-like polio virus in their faeces.

Dr Vanessa Saliba, a consultant epidemiologist at the UK Health Security Agency said: “Most of the UK population will be protected from vaccination in childhood, but in some communities with low vaccine coverage, individuals may remain at risk.”

She said the NHS has been asked to swiftly report any suspected cases to the agency though no cases have been reported or confirmed so far.

Newham Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz said that while the risk is currently low, parents should ensure their children are fully immunised.

“Polio is one of the diseases that we routinely vaccinate children against and there have been no cases in the UK for many years,” she said.

To be fully protected against polio people must have five doses of a polio-containing vaccine. All five doses are part of the NHS routine childhood vaccination schedule and provided for free. Children are given the polio vaccine when they are:

8, 12 and 16 weeks old as part of the 6-in-1 vaccine
3 years and 4 months old as part of the 4-in-1 (DTaP/IPV) pre-school booster
14 years old as part of the 3-in-1 (Td/IPV) teenage booster

“We know that some children missed out on vaccinations during the Covid 19 pandemic,” said the Mayor, “and we urge all residents to contact their GP if they or their children have missed any essential vaccinations.”She said the Council is working closely with Newham’s NHS groups, as well as early years settings and schools to ensure all children are up to date with their vaccinations.

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