TEL AVIV, Israel, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Israel's Health Ministry says it plans to start vaccinating young children in southern Israel against polio.
At a news conference Sunday, officials said they would begin vaccinating all children born after Jan. 1, 2004, the Israeli news site Walla reported.
Officials said about 200,000 children would receive an oral vaccination that contains a weakened strain of the virus.
A decision to inoculate the children came after traces of the virus were discovered earlier this year in sewage in southern Israel, Israel Radio and The Times of Israel reported.
The World Health Organization praised the move, Yedioth Ahronoth said.
While not a single case of paralytic polio has been reported, about 23 healthy carriers of the virus were discovered among 1,000 residents who were tested, The Jerusalem Post said.
