UN: Trucks readied to send polio vaccine for IS-held Syria

GENEVA – A U.N. humanitarian aid adviser for Syria says trucks are being prepared to ship polio vaccine into Islamic State group-held areas of Deir el-Zour governorate following confirmation of a “very dangerous” outbreak of the virus.

Jan Egeland made the comments to reporters Thursday in the wake of the confirmation announced last week by the World Health Organization of two cases in Deir el-Zour of a polio strain derived from vaccines that mutated under weakening health and immunization conditions.

He said 58 acute flaccid paralysis cases, a possible symptom of polio, had been reported in Deir el-Zour this year through June 6.

Egeland said “it’s one of the remarkable things” of Syria’s war that people have been reached with vaccines, even in the Deir el-Zour and Raqqa governorates held by IS.