Chronicle Editor
Thandeka Moyo-Ndlovu, [email protected]
BULAWAYO will start rolling out a new polio vaccine tomorrow (Tuesday) targeting all children under the age of 10 following an outbreak in Harare.
About 80 000 children aged below five were vaccinated against polio in Bulawayo during the just-ended third-round drive to combat the highly infectious and deadly disease.
Zimbabwe has been polio-free since 1989 but the country is now at risk of infection as cases have been recorded in Mozambique and Malawi.
In a statement, Bulawayo town clerk Mr Christopher Dube urged all parents and guardians to ensure that eligible children access the vaccine.
“The City of Bulawayo will be participating in the National Novel Oral Polio Vaccine Type 2 (nOPV2) Campaign, in conjunction with the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and partners,” he said.
“The campaign will be conducted in two rounds, in February (20 to 23) and March (dates to be advised) 2024. This follows the confirmation of circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Virus type (cVDPV2) in Harare Metropolitan Province through environmental surveillance and in an Acute Flaccid Paralysis case from Sanyati District, Mashonaland West Province,” said Mr Dube.
“In response to the outbreak, the nOPV2 vaccine will be used, which is a new vaccine in the country. Vaccines will be given at all municipal clinics, central hospitals, Mater Dei Hospital, selected private surgeries offering vaccination, crèches, primary schools, marketplaces, churches, bus termini and outreach points including house-to-house. The first round of the campaign will be conducted from the 20th to the 23rd of February 2024.”
Mass vaccinations are typically conducted to interrupt the transmission of vaccine-preventable diseases like polio, regardless of the target population’s vaccination status.
For Zimbabwe, these vaccination drives are preventive measures to guard against the risk of importation from neighbouring countries that have confirmed the virus.
Other countries participating in the vaccination drives include Burundi, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia. Over 80 million doses have been administered to more than 20 million children to date.
Online Reporter