Recent improvements in polio and pertussis vaccination policy in Israel, 2005.
For children born after 1 January 2005, use of the Sabin oral polio vaccine in combination with the enhanced-potency Salk inactivated polio vaccine as part of the routine vaccination schedule was discontinued. The schedule now includes only IPV. In September 2005, a fifth dose of pertussis vaccine was added for pupils in their second year of elementary school. This article describes the reasons for these changes, which have rendered Israel's routine vaccination program one of the most effective in the world.
Rishpon
Shmuel
S
Haifa District Health Office and Advisory Committee of the Department of Epidemiology, Ministry of Health, Haifa, Israel. shmuel.rishpon@lbhaifa.health.gov.il
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D017589:Immunization Programs / Q000592:standards*; D007115:Immunization Schedule; D007557:Israel; D010567:Pertussis Vaccine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011051:Poliomyelitis / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011054:Poliovirus Vaccine, Inactivated / Q000008:administration & dosage; D011055:Poliovirus Vaccine, Oral / Q000008:administration & dosage; D014917:Whooping Cough / Q000517:prevention & control*
D010567:Pertussis Vaccine; D011054:Poliovirus Vaccine, Inactivated; D011055:Poliovirus Vaccine, Oral