2020 polio vaccination campaign launched, to include 16.5 million children

CAIRO – 16 February 2020: The Egyptian Ministry of Health launched today the national anti-polio campaign with an aim to vaccinate 16.5 million children.

The campaign includes Egyptian and foreign children from the age of one day to five years old.

The Health Ministry has said that 16.5 million children were vaccinated for free in the national polio vaccination campaign last February, which lasted for four days.

Many countries have succeeded in eradicating the disease by vaccinating children under five years old. Egypt joined the list in 2006 with the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF declaring that it was polio-free after the last case was discovered in 2004.

This was due to the extensive vaccination coverage in all the governorates of Egypt through seven doses within the schedule of routine immunizations and the additional doses through periodic national campaigns.

An official source told Egypt Today that children should get the vaccination once, adding that it is safe and important for children to be immunized against the disease and that the vaccination will be provided to children under the supervision of the World Health Organization.

In 2018, Egypt entered the final phase of eradicating the disease completely and to ensure that there are no new cases due to any viruses coming from abroad.

The global strategy in polio eradication recommends introducing an additional dose via injection to the dose of oral vaccination in the fourth month, the remaining six doses to remain oral.