“Israel took its polio vaccination campaign nationwide on Sunday, saying a two-week vaccination effort in the south was not enough to curb the threat of an outbreak of the virus,” Agence France-Presse/Fox News reports (8/18). The country kicked off the “extensive anti-polio drive by vaccinating over 30,000 children under nine years of age on Sunday,” Pentagon Post writes, adding, “The anti-polio operation is expected to last 60 days” (Bender, 8/19). “Israel already immunizes its children against the disease,” but the “new campaign gives a second boost of protection,” according to the Associated Press/ABC News (8/18). “A decision to launch the nationwide campaign came just weeks after Israel ordered all children in the south to be vaccinated after the virus was found in the sewage system,” UPI notes (8/18). “The ministry said that since the launch of the campaign in the south of the country two weeks ago, 60,000 children — or 60 percent of the children in that region — had already been vaccinated,” AFP writes (8/18).