By Nasratu Kargbo
In a bid to combat the sudden outbreak of polio in the country, the Ministry of Health and Sanitation has announced the first round of the National Polio Vaccination Campaign. The campaign is said to run from the 28th May to the 31st May 2021.
According to the statement from the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Sierra Leone has been polio-free since 2010, but the country is currently facing an outbreak of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type2 (cVDPV2).
The Ministry has since the 28th April 2021 recorded 22 cases of type 2 polio in the country; it is as a result of this outbreak that they thought it fit to conduct a campaign.
According to the statement, the campaign will be done throughout the country and will target 1,472,813 children that are under the age of five. It added that the ministry will be conducting the vaccination in two rounds.
Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a disabling and life-threatening disease caused by the poliovirus. The virus spreads from person to person and can infect a person’s spinal cord, causing paralysis.
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