WHO launches first polio vaccination campaign for 2022

The first national polio immunization campaign for 2022 is set to start this week and will target 9.9 million children aged 0–59 months across the country.

According to Relief Web, this month’s campaign will reach more children than the November 2021 program that delivered polio vaccinations to 8.5 million children under the age of five.

The December campaign in turn vaccinated more than 8 million children.

Last year was the year with the lowest ever polio transmission in Afghanistan, providing an unprecedented opportunity to interrupt transmission of wild poliovirus and achieve eradication. Four cases of wild poliovirus type 1 were reported: the first, in Ghazni province in January, and three in Kunduz province in October and November.

In response to the detection of three cases of WPV1 in Kunduz earlier this month, the polio program also conducted a third case response campaign in seven provinces in order to stop the outbreak and protect children from the crippling but preventable disease.

“As we begin 2022, we have our best opportunity yet to end polio in Afghanistan,” said Dr Dapeng Luo, WHO Representative in Afghanistan. “To reach that goal, we have five more campaigns planned for 2022 and it’s critical that we maintain this momentum to reach our final goal of zero cases.”