Nationwide polio vaccination campaign kicks off: MoPH

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) on Sunday launched a three-day polio vaccination campaign in 26 provinces of the country.

Sharaf Zaman, MoPH spokesman, told Pajhwok Afghan News the new campaign, the last round this year, was launched today in cooperation with international organizations in 242 districts of 26 provinces of the country and would continue for three days.

According to him, nearly seven million children under the age of five will be given the vaccine.

“Afghanistan is closer to polio eradication than ever before because this year only two positive cases of polio surfaced in Paktika and Kunar provinces; While last year there were four positive cases and 56 positive cases in 2020”.

Zaman said if the cases recorded this year were compared with cases of the last two years, it shows a significant decrease.

He said they recently launched a special campaign in the eastern zone after the emergence of two positive cases.

According to him, this year, nine polio vaccination campaign rounds, six nationwide rounds and three sub-campaign rounds are planned.

The MoPH asked all local authorities, elders, community leaders, scholars and parents to cooperate with the vaccination teams to make the campaign a success and vaccinate children under five years of age.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only two countries in the world where polio is still endemic.

sa/ma