House To House National Polio Immunization To Begin On Friday

Posted by: Kyeyune Andrew Jonathan in Health January 12, 2022

The Ministry of Health(MOH) recently announced that the National house to house polio immunization campaign will start on Friday.

The Ministry said the campaign will run for three days from January 14th to 16th 2022. All children under the age of 5 years will get vaccine.

In August 2021, Uganda confirmed an outbreak of polio, 14 years after the WHO declared the country free of the disease. The ministry apparently declared the new announcement of the outbreak a public health emergency.

In a statement issued from the Ministry of Health, the re-emergence came as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The rate of the polio immunization greatly reduced due to the ministry re-focusing its efforts to the current Covid-19 pandemic.

Emmanuel Ainebyona, the Senior Public Relations Officer MOH revealed Uganda received 10 million polio vaccines in 2021. They will use this to vaccinate 8.5 million children against the killer disease.

He further said in October last year that the government through the MOH started immunization. They also used this as a preventative measure against the new strain of the poliovirus.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Polio is a crippling and potentially deadly disease. It spreads from person to person and can invade an infected person’s brain and spinal cord, causing paralysis.

According to the CDC, vaccination can prevent polio. The Inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) is the only polio vaccine that has been given in the United States of America since 2000.

The said vaccine is given by a shot in the arm or leg, depending on the person’s age. Oral polio vaccine (OPV) is another option they use in many other countries.

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