KAMPALA – The Ministry of Health – MOH announced on Friday that it will be conducting a 10-day door-to-door vaccination drive in districts that recorded cases of the Ebola virus disease in the latest outbreak.
The exercise, which climaxes on January 30, will be conducted in Kassanda, Mubende, Mukono, Kampala and Wakiso districts – targeting children below five years of age, according to a Ministry statement, released on Friday.
These districts missed out on the vaccination campaign that took place in November because of the outbreak. The children will now be receiving a second dose of the oral polio vaccine having got the first dose in January 2022. However, the same drive will delayed in Kampala – taking place a fortnight later, from February 17- 19.
Uganda resolved to conduct a vaccination campaign after the country discovered the polio virus in the routine sentinel surveillance where positive samples were picked from Lubigi and Bugolobi sewage sites in August 2021. No human case was identified at the time but experts say the outbreak could have been caused by the interruption of routine immunization services during the Covid-19 pandemic when the country was under lockdown.
Dr Daniel Kyabayinze, the Director of Public Health in the Ministry of Health says that even though Uganda is not under serious threat of polio, the disease is still circulating in other countries which make it important for the children to be protected both through routine immunization and campaign mode one-offs like these.
He urged health workers and caretakers to report all cases of children below 15 years who suddenly develop lameness in the arms or legs. As a routine, the ministry conducts acute flaccid paralysis surveillance across all government health facilities in the country.
Polio is a disabling and potentially deadly disease caused by the poliovirus which spreads from person to person and can infect a person’s spinal cord, causing paralysis. Although there is no cure for polio, it can be prevented with safe and effective vaccination.
