45. Tulchinsky, T., 'Abed, Y., Shaheen, S., Toubassi, N., Sever, Y., Schoenbaum, M., and Handsher, R. A Ten-Year Experience in Control of Poliomyelitis Through a Combination of Live and Killed Vaccines in Two Developing Areas. American Journal of Public Health 1989; 79, 12: 1648-1652.

A review of poliomyelitis cases and incidence rates in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip for the period between 1968 and 1988 is presented. During the 1970s, immunization using Trivalent Oral Polio vaccine (TOPV), covered more that 90% of the infant population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. However, the incidence of paralytic poliomyelitis was still high, with many cases occurring in fully or partially immunized persons.

During the ten years since 1978, a new policy of combining five doses of OPV with two doses of inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) was adopted and implemented with an infant immunization coverage rate estimated at 95%. This proved to be a successful program for paralytic poliomyelitis control despite the exposure to wild poliovirus from neighboring countries including an outbreak in Israel in 1988.