Child given polio vaccine in Be'er Sheva
Child given polio vaccine in Be'er ShevaIsrael news photo: Flash 90

An additional 18,900 children were vaccinated against polio on Monday following the first discovery of the wild polio virus in the central waste water system in Jerusalem. 

The Ministry of Health has pointed to the discovery as an indication that polio is still a threat in Israel and emphasized the importance of making sure that the campaign moves forward until the entire target demographic is vaccinated.

"We have yet to overcome the virus and this highlights the need for the immediate completion of the polio vaccination," urged the Ministry of Health. 

The Ministry decided to embark on a nationwide inoculation program after samples taken from around the country showed that the disease was showing up in more places in the center of the country. The program first began in the south, where it was estimated that as many as 10% of some populations were carrying the disease.

Now that the strain of "wild" polio has been discovered in Jerusalem, more and more children will be vaccinated as part of the Ministry of Health's "Operation 2-Drops" campaign.

This brings the total, since the campaign's inception, to over 720,000.