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NYS Health department says that a state of emergency is no longer necessary to battle polio because fewer samples of the virus were detected in wastewater from counties of concern.

The state of emergency was first put in place three months ago after officials identified the virus in New York City and Nassau, Rockland, Orange, and Sullivan counties.

The order allowed the state to loosen rules on who could administer polio vaccines, but it’s not needed now that some 50,000 doses of the polio vaccine have been administered to children 18 years and Youngers and fewer samples of polio have been detected in wastewater in Rockland, Orange, Sullivan, and Nassau counties, the department said.

New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett said that the health department together with our partners at national and local levels launched a focused and urgent response to protect New Yorkers from polio.

We have made progress but the work to increase immunization rates and protect children from paralytic disease and other vaccine-preventable illnesses is ongoing, said Dr. Mary Bassett.

Officials said the campaign to get more people immunized will continue along with the surveillance of wastewater surveillance.

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