Ethiopia to vaccinate seven million children against polio

 Ethiopia is set to launch an anti-polio campaign as of next Wednesday in the country’s 47 zones of Oromia, Somali, SNNP and Harrai regional states and two major cities.Briefing journalists on Saturday, Ethiopian Public Health Institution Deputy Director-General, Aschalew Abyneh said around seven million children under five years will receive immunization drops and against polio disease in this round.

He said that preparations are also underway to vaccinate 704,000 people against yellow fever beginning from October 23.

The Institute called on parents to seriously consider the threats of the polio virus like coronavirus and vaccine their children against polio virus in each round of campaign in order to lead toward elimination of polio virus in the country.

According to the Deputy Director-General, the polio cases have been reported in those zones based on nationwide assessment conducted in December 2019. 

The Deputy Director-General said the institution has made the necessary preparations in terms of resource mobilization and assignment of health professionals to successfully carry out the door to door vaccination campaign.

He said cases of Polio have been observed in Kenya, Somalia, and Sudan and hence the institute is working with neighboring countries in order to control the disease throughout the horn of Africa.  

Polio is a disease that paralyses and even kills and it won’t be cured, so anti-polio vaccine is the only effective and safe way to prevent children from the disease, the deputy director added.

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