Some 22 million children under five years old in Bangladesh were given free polio vaccines and a Vitamin A capsule in what could be country's biggest house to house immunization campaign to eradicate the polio virus.

The country spent a substantial amount on the 30 million doses of oral polio vaccines, 20 million doses of high-potency Vitamin A capsules and 13 million doses of Albendazole tablets to be used in the four-day immunization drive that began Saturday

The United Nations and the Sudanese government plan to launch a massive polio immunization campaign after the virus was detected in the conflict torn nation. Sudan was previously declared to have been polio-free.

The Sudanese Ministry of Health, in coordination with the UN's World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children's Fund. The campaign is set to begin October 23 and run through the 25th, with a second scheduled immunization for November

Opponents of vaccination against disease were "crackpots" who pose a potentially deadly threat to Australians' health, a former federal minister warned on Wednesday.

Michael Wooldridge, a medical doctor, said Australia's high immunization rates could drop fast if the health community did not challenge misinformation about immunization

Australia placed its hospitals on alert Friday after doctors in Melbourne diagnosed a Pakistani student as the country's first known polio case in 21 years.

The 22-year-old man flew in from Pakistan via Thailand 11 days ago, the Sydney Morning Herald reported

Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry signed an executive order on Friday to require all middle school girls entering 6th grade (aged 11 and 12) in Texas to receive the new HPV (sexually transmitted disease) vaccination. The vaccination claims to prevent the disease, which can cause cervical cancer.

Perry claims that authorizing this HPV vaccine is no different than past legislation that requires all children to have the polio vaccine, according to CNN