By CGTN Africa
Sierra Leone kicked off its national polio immunization campaign in a bid to protect an estimated 520,000 children under five years of age using the novel Oral Polio vaccine.
According to a statement from the World Health Organization (WHO), the campaign will run for four days and will be implemented by national and district teams and frontline health workers that will go house to house in three districts.
Between December 2020 and June 2021, the country experienced an outbreak of the circulating Vaccine Derived Poliovirus type two or cVDPV2 with a total of 34 confirmed cases in children recorded in the country.
The outbreak has been attributed to decline in routine vaccination services largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic which also resulted in the decline in population immunity.
A coordinated response to the outbreak has led the government and its health sector partners to plan and implement nationwide response interventions including two nation-wide supplementary immunization campaigns in May and July respectively. The campaigns aimed to immunize all eligible children to interrupt transmission of the virus.
“Such exposure to the risk of infection is avoidable if herd immunity is achieved by ensuring improved vaccination coverage of the target population”, says Dr. Steven V. Shongwe, WHO Representative in Sierra Leone.
Polio is a debilitating and potentially fatal disease. The virus is highly infectious and has no cure once it affects an individual and can lead to paralysis or even death. Young children are the most vulnerable. However, the disease is totally preventable with safe and effective vaccines, which if given multiple times can protect a child for life.
“Vaccination is one of the primary strategies that has contributed to the gains the world has made in the fight against polio. Collective effort by everyone can keep all children safe from the effects of the disease and can make eradication possible in our life time” Dr. Shongwe stated.
In August 2020, Africa was certified wild polio free after more than three years of no confirmed case on the continent. However, outbreaks of cVDPV continue to spread in many countries on the continent and other parts of the world.
