By Emelia B. Addae
Koforidua, Oct. 18, GNA – Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, the Director General of Ghana Health Service, has announced the resurgence of variant type 2 poliovirus that has necessitated the need to organise two rounds of vaccination exercise for children under five years.
He said the Novel Oral Polio Vaccine Type 2 (noPV2) which was successfully used to respond to the last circulation variant type 2 outbreak in 2022 will be used on the children.
Polio is an illness caused by a virus that mainly affects nerves in the spinal cord or brain stem. In its most severe form, polio can lead to a person being unable to move certain limbs.
Dr. Kuma-Aboagye, speaking in Koforidua at the launch of the national novel oral polio vaccine type 2 campaign said on September 06, 2024, the Ghana Health Service was notified of a confirmed circulating variant type 2 poliovirus, an isolate from the Koforidua Environmental Surveillance site.
He said the circulating variant was genetically linked to a circulating variant strain in Algeria and clearly indicated that one polio anywhere is indeed polio everywhere.
The polio campaign was essential in the country’s broader strategy to close the immunity gaps that allow poliovirus to persist, he said.
“With enhanced environmental surveillance, consistent and routine immunization, and targeted risk communication and education, we can stop polio at its source and prevent its resurgence,” he noted.
The first round of polio vaccination exercise falls on 17-20 October 2024 and the second round on 14-17 November, 2024.
The Director General said the immunisation was targeting over six and a half million children across the country who were less than five years of age.
The exercise will be conducted from house to house and also the mobile teams will visit schools and others within the communities to serve the target population.
He said “I urge all caregivers of children under five years to look out for the vaccination teams and ensure that their children are vaccinated.”
Prior to the launch of the noPV2 campaign, workers of the Ghana Health Service, Koforidua started a float from the Ministries through the principal street of the New Juaben South Municipality and ended at the Sports Stadium.
The float was to raise awareness about the efforts to eradicate polio as well as build trust in vaccines.
The development partners of the polio vaccination campaign included the World Health Organisation, United Nations Children’s Fund, and Rotary International.
GNA