U.S. ramps up search for undetected polio, as vaccinations stall in New York

Health authorities in New York's Rockland County say they have seen the pace of their emergency polio vaccination effort stall in recent weeks, amid fierce opposition from anti-vaccine groups. The first U.S. polio case in over a decade was confirmed in the county in July, in a young man who wasn't vaccinated, and health officials said the illness left him paralyzed.

The slowing immunization campaign comes as states around the country say they are preparing to expand the testing of wastewater to search for undetected cases. Authorities are concerned polio could now be spreading undetected more widely around the country, especially in communities with low vaccination rates.

"We have a lot of infiltration of especially our insular community in Rockland by the anti-vaxxers, and we are now working to supersede them as best we can. It's going to be very, very difficult," Rockland County's chief medical officer Patricia Schnabel Ruppert said last week at a meeting of the federal National Vaccine Advisory Committee.