ZIMBABWE will from today roll out its third mass vaccination against wild polio for children under the age of five years, an official has said.
The countrywide polio vaccination of children under five years is set to take place from today to Friday. The first round of vaccination took place in October last year while the second round was carried out in December the same year.
The third polio vaccination campaign is aimed at protecting children against polio as part of a comprehensive response to polio outbreaks reported in Malawi and Mozambique recently. City of Harare principal health promotion officer Israel Makwara told journalists in Kadoma at the weekend that the local authority would make sure that all children below the age of five get the vaccine.
“The third round of the oral mass polio vaccination will take place from May 23rd to the 26th. We are hopeful that all logistics will be in place for that exercise to ensure that any child below the age of five in Harare gets the vaccine,” he said.
He said the city expects to vaccinate over 800 000 children during the four-day period. “We are expecting to vaccinate over 800 000 children as was the case during the previous two outreaches,” said Makwara.
Polio is a debilitating disease that can cause permanent disability and even death. The government has said other critical interventions to keep Zimbabwe free of Polio besides the vaccination campaigns are strengthening surveillance and routine immunization. — New Ziana
