National house-to-house polio immunization campaign starts Friday – MoH

Last year, Uganda received 10 million polio vaccines to vaccinate 8.5 million children.

Lira – January 10, 2022: The national house-house polio immunization campaign will take place from January 14 to 16 – according to the Ministry of Health.

“Children under five (5) years are encouraged to be fully immunized” – adds the ministry.

In August 2021, Uganda confirmed an outbreak of polio – 14 years after the country was declared “polio free” in 2006.

The 2021 outbreak was declared “a public health emergency” in a statement issued by the Director-General of Health Services, Dr Henry G. Mwebesa.

Dr Mwebesa at that time attributed the revival of polio to “reduced immunization rates in the country due to COVID-19” and importation of the virus due to constant cross-border movement involving countries affected by it.

Last year, Uganda received 10 million polio vaccines to vaccinate 8.5 million children. The Ministry of Health’s Senior Public Relations Officer (S-PRO) Emmanuel Ainebyoona said in October that immunization is a preventive measure against a new strain of poliovirus.

According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a crippling and potentially deadly disease. It is caused by the poliovirus. The virus spreads from person to person and can invade an infected person’s brain and spinal cord, causing paralysis.

Polio can be prevented with a vaccine. Inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) is the only polio vaccine that has been given, for example in the United States of America since 2000.

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CDC says it is given by a shot in the arm or leg, depending on the person’s age. Oral polio vaccine (OPV) is used in other countries.

CDC recommends that children get four doses of the polio vaccine. They should get one dose at each of the following ages:

• 2 months old
• 4 months old
• 6 through 18 months old
• 4 through 6 years old

“Almost all children (99 out of 100) who get all the recommended doses of polio vaccine will be protected from polio.”

Vaccine

According to CDC, the first polio vaccine was available in the United States in 1955 and the country has been polio-free since 1979. “But poliovirus is still a threat in some countries.”