Polio vaccination begins in Northern Region

Following reports of polio cases in Kobilimagu, Tamale Metro, Nyanshegu and Sagnarigu, the Northern Regional Health Directorate has launched a polio vaccination campaign.

This was after research at Kobilimagu and Nyanshegu revealed polioviruses in drains.

Announcing the intended vaccination, the Deputy Director of Public Health in the Northern Region, Dr. Hilarious Abiwu, said the immunization would protect children under the age of five.

According to him, samples of the drain were taken to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for testing, and the results came out positive.

“We are going to dispatch our teams through the entire region to look for all children under five and vaccinate them against polio. Once we are successful in this round, four weeks later, precisely on the 6th of October, all this being equal, our teams will return again to our various homes to look for these children again and give them a second dose,” he told journalists in a press briefing.

Encouraging parents to work with health officials who will be visiting their homes to vaccinate their children against the virus, Dr. Abiwu assured: “the vaccine is safe, and any child that is exposed to it will be protected against any dangerous effects of polio”.

The exercise will take place from Thursday, 1 September 2022, to Sunday, 4 September 2022.