By CGTN Africa
More than nine million children will be vaccinated against the poliovirus in the first round of mass campaigns across four countries in eastern and southern Africa after an outbreak was confirmed in Malawi, UNICEF said.
The vaccine rollout comes after it was confirmed last month that a 3-year-old girl was paralyzed by wild poliovirus in Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe.
“This is the first case of wild polio detected in Africa for more than five years and UNICEF is working closely with governments and partners to do everything possible to stop the virus in its tracks,” says Mohamed M. Fall, UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa.
UNICEF, the World Health Organization and other partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative are leading the campaign launched in Malawi on Sunday and will be followed on Thursday with campaigns starting in neighbouring Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia.
More rounds of vaccinations will follow in the coming months which will cover more than 20 million children, according to UNICEF.
UNICEF said the mass immunization will also target children previously vaccinated.
“We need to vaccinate children who have been vaccinated before because it takes multiple doses of the polio doses to get fully immunized as regards to polio and every additional dose gives children extra protection,” says Rudolf Schwenk, UNICEF’s representative in Malawi.
UNICEF has procured more than 36 million doses of polio vaccine for the first two rounds of immunizations of children in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia.
