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Thandeka Moyo-Ndlovu, [email protected]

ABOUT 80 000 children aged below five were vaccinated against polio in Bulawayo during the just-ended third-round drive to combat the highly infectious and deadly disease. 

Zimbabwe has been polio-free since 1989, but the country is now at risk of infection as cases have been recorded in Mozambique and Malawi.

The administration of multiple rounds of supplementary doses of oral polio vaccine (OPV) to all at-risk children is a cost-effective public health measure to boost protection levels among children and avert poliovirus importation from affected countries.

Bulawayo provincial medical director Dr Maphios Siamuchembu said the third round campaign ran from May 23-27 in line with the Ministry of Health and Child Care response to reduce the risk of polio importation into Zimbabwe as cases have been recorded in neighbouring countries.

The first round of vaccination in Zimbabwe was held from 27 to 30 October 2022, while the second one was conducted from December 1 to 4 last year, to vaccinate all children below the age of five years regardless of their vaccination status.

“We achieved 79 percent of our target which means we have about 21 percent of eligible children still hiding somewhere within the province. Of the 101 821 children that we think we have, who were eligible for the polio vaccine, we reached and vaccinated 80 483, giving us a 79 percent coverage,” said Dr Siamuchembu. 

He said those who missed the third round could still access the vaccines from health centres as they were still available. 

“Every child aged less than 60 months needs to get the polio vaccine this time around so that we surpass the 78 percent target recorded during the second round. We have to repeatedly carry out this vaccination to reach every child since in terms of coverage we failed to reach our target as a country,” said Dr Siamuchembu.

“We realised there is still quite a number of children who are being missed during routine immunisation.”

The programme saw vaccinators visiting households to vaccinate eligible children. In addition, children were vaccinated at all health facilities across the country and usual outreach points.

 Active case finding for any child with sudden weakness of any limb was also done as part of monitoring for polio.

UNICEF commended the ministry for its outstanding efforts in the polio campaign.