Mozambique: 4th round of polio vaccination to take place soon

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Mozambique: 4th round of polio vaccination to take place soon

11:00 CAT | 27 Jul 2022

File photo: O País

The Mozambican health authorities are preparing a fourth round of the polio vaccination campaign for children aged between zero and 59 months, a measure considered to be effective in cutting the transmission of the virus and protecting children.

The action is dependent on coordination with neighboring countries, since the disease is transnational and requires the involvement of several jurisdictions.

According to Benigna Matsinhe, the deputy national director of Public Health, cited on Tuesday by the Maputo daily “Notícias”, the dates for the start of vaccination will be announced in due course, as well as the resources available for the fourth round.

“We want to call for parents and guardians nationwide so that, as in the first three rounds, they go en masse to vaccination posts or receive in their homes our brigades for children to be free of polio, a disease that can cause paralysis”, said Matsinhe.

She stressed that, for the success of the activity, the public must be mobilised to accept, without reservation, the vaccination teams in their homes, or go to the nearest health units for this purpose.

The vaccination aims to ensure the immunization of all children against the most recent type of wild poliovirus detected in Tete province, and in neighboring Malawi.

In the third round, said Matsinhe, slightly more than seven million children were vaccinated – which exceeded the target figure of 6,898,837 children under the age of five.

The campaign also provides for vaccination in border areas, to be carried out by special teams that will prioritize permanent contact with neighboring countries.

Vaccinated children will be marked on a fingernail of the left hand with indelible ink to facilitate control.

Source: AIM