Uganda receives 10 million doses of Polio vaccines
Uganda on Tuesday received a total of 10,997,500 doses of the Novel Oral Polio Vaccine to immunise children under five.
This was confirmed by Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the Senior Public Relations Officer at the Ministry of Health.
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“Today Uganda has received 10,997,500 doses of the Novel Oral Polio Vaccine targeting type 2 polio virus(nOPV2) that will be used to immunise 8,791,710 children under five,” Ainebyoona said.
The vaccines will be stored at National Medical Stores and used in the mass door to door polio vaccination campaign slated for November and early December 2021.
The development comes months after Uganda confirmed the outbreak of Polio in the country following confirmation of positive laboratory tests from environmental samples in Kampala.
It should be remembered that in August 2020, Uganda was certified by the World Health Organization as a Polio-free country.
However in August, the health ministry confirmed that the Uganda Virus Research Institute had confirmed a circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Virus type 2 (cVDPV2) after collecting samples from sewage plants in Bugolobi and Lubigi.
The ministry blamed the resurgence on reduced immunisation rates during the Covid-19 pandemic and cross-border movements among neighbouring countries from countries affected by the outbreak.
As means of mitigating the outbreak, Dr. Henry Mwebesa, the Director General Health Services had announced that the health ministry would conduct nationwide door-to-door Polio immunisation campaign in October and December, 2021.
“Health workers will visit house-to-house and vaccinate all children aged 5 years and below against Polio. All health workers participating in the campaign will wear masks and strictly observe the COVID-19 SOPs to ensure children are safely vaccinated,” Dr. Mwebesa said in August.
Polio is a viral disease that is transmitted from one person to person, mainly through faecal-oral route or less frequently, through contaminated water or food and multiplies inside the intestines.
