2.6 Million Children Vaccinated Against Measles and Polio in 5 Days
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently announced it empowered the Somalia Federal and State Ministries of Health to conduct a five-day vaccination campaign targeting measles and polio.
They immunized 2.61 million children under the age of five with the trivalent oral polio vaccine (tOPV). This is the first time Somalia used tOPV in campaign mode after its switch in 2016.
The campaign also helped to vaccinate 2.31 million children against measles.
This innovative campaign was needed since over 15,000 measles cases and four polio cases (cVDPV2) were reported in 2022, according to the WHO.
"We are thankful to all the partners ... for supporting the first-ever national integrated campaign since 2019, which aimed exclusively to vaccinate children against tOPV along with measles and boost their immunity with supplements like vitamin A and deworming tablets across the country," commented Dr. Muhammad Farid the lead for WHO's immunization program, on December 7, 2022.
In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently expanded its poliovirus wastewater testing to include areas in Detroit and Philadelphia areas.
And in Columbus, Ohio, a measles outbreak has impacted over 60 children.
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