Zim launches 3rd polio vaccination campaign

ZIMBABWE will today begin a third polio vaccination campaign in a bid to eradicate the deadly disease. The polio vaccination campaign comes at a time when southern Africa faces continuous threat of the deadly disease.

The country is yet to record cases of polio, although neighbouring Mozambique and Malawi have recorded some cases.

Speaking to NewsDay on the sidelines of a media sensitisation meeting on catalysing COVID-19 Action (CCA), Harare City Council’s public health expert Israel Makwara said the capital had already begun conducting polio surveillance.

He said the city had joined the rest of the country in the third round of cholera vaccination, which would run until Friday.

"We are hopeful that all systems will be in place for the vaccination to commence. We are sure that the vaccination would have happened in those four days to make sure that any child below the age of five years gets the vaccine," Makwara said, adding that it would be a door-to-door exercise.

“There will be transit teams moving around to vaccinate eligible children. The first two campaigns registered great success.

Nine wild poliovirus cases have been reported so far, with one in Malawi and eight in neighbouring Mozambique since the declaration of an outbreak on February 17, 2022 in Malawi.

The last confirmed case to date was in August 2022 in Mozambique.

The wild poliovirus in Malawi and Mozambique originated from Pakistan, which is one of the two last endemic countries.

Polio is highly infectious and affects unimmunised or under-immunised children.

In Malawi and Mozambique, it paralysed children younger than 15 years.

There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented by immunisation.

Zimbabwe last recorded a polio case in 1989.

Last year, two polio vaccination campaigns were done in the country in close collaboration with four other countries in the region namely Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia.