More than 8 million Egyptian children aged 1 – 5 have been given the Polio vaccine on the first day of a Ministry of Health four-day vaccination campaign against Polio. The campaign started Sunday 28 February and runs till Wednesday 3 March.
According to the Ministry of Health, 52.9 per cent of the targeted segment of 16.7 million children aged one to five, received the vaccine on the first day of the free-of-charge nationwide campaign. Among the children who took the vaccine were 6,730 non Egyptian children who reside in Egypt.
The campaign is part of the Ministry of Health annual booster campaign against Polio, to ensure the country remains Polio-free.
According to the Ministry spokesperson Khaled Megahed, 90 per cent of the children targeted in the governorates of Sharqiya, Giza, Cairo, Daqahliya, Beheira, Gharbiya and Alexandria took the vaccine during the first day.
The medical teams administering the vaccine operate on several venues: fixed teams inside 5400 health offices and medical units across Egypt; and mobile teams on metro and train stations, and in the vicinity of mosques, churches, clubs, markets and bus stops. In addition, Dr Megahed pointed out, 800 mobile health vehicles and 2000 ambulances are in place to reach children in remote and rural areas. In villages, the Polio vaccine is administered door to door in order to ensure that the campaign reached all targeted children.
Medical trams working on the campaign include 90,000 individuals, Dr Megahed said, working daily from 8 to 5.
According to Alaa Eid, Head of the Health Ministry’s Preventive Medicine Department, the last case of Polio was reported in Egypt in 2004. The World Health Organisation had reported Egypt as Polio-free in 2006, he added. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Health is keen to execute its yearly booster campaigns in order to boost the immunity of children and to maintain Egypt free of Polio.
Watani International
1 March 2021