Ministry of health to conduct concurrent vaccination for polio, Covid-19

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Ministry of Health will embark on a three-day vaccination campaign against polio among children aged five years and below, starting this Thursday.

This campaign that targets 8.7 million children aims to also reach children that have missed routine immunization. By the end of August, the Ministry of Health said that up to two million children had missed polio vaccination, something that is partly attributed to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng told journalists on Wednesday that the new exercise will be conducted door-to-door, and that it will be carried out concurrently with ongoing COVID-19 vaccinations. She was clarifying earlier claims that ongoing COVID-19 vaccination at selected facilities across the country will be halted, to pave way for a polio drive.

The launch of the immunization campaign that will take place at Wakiso Health Center IV on Thursday builds up on vaccination activities that took place late last year when the country had just detected poliovirus in two samples picked from Bugolobi and Lubigi sewerage sites in Kampala.

Dr Alfred Driwale, the Programme Manager of the Uganda Expanded Programme on Immunisation-UNEPI told URN that the number of un-immunized children has been piling over the years. He says one of the reasons for this is accessibility for, especially hard to reach areas. By moving door-to-door, he says health workers will be able to spot those that can’t make it to health facilities.

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