Ministry of Health launches national campaign for vaccination against poliomyelitis

Campaign targets newborns to 5 years for Egyptian, non-Egyptian children

The Minister of Health Hala Zayed announced on Tuesday the preparations for the national campaign for vaccinations against poliomyelitis. The campaign will be launched on 24 February for four days, according to a statement from the ministry.
Zayed said that the campaign targets newborns to 5 years, for all children in Egypt, including non-Egyptian children. The campaign targets 16.5 million children in order to keep Egypt safe from poliomyelitis.
The last registered case of poliomyelitis in Egypt occurred 14 years ago, according to Khaled Mogahed, the spokesperson of the ministry of health. He added that the ministry is conducting annual vaccination campaigns in order to raise the immunity of children.
From his part, Alaa Eid, the head of Preventive Medicine Department at the ministry, said that vaccination is necessary for children in the targeted age. He added that medical teams will be working during the four-day campaign from 8am to 5pm.
Eid said that the vaccinations will be carried out at homes in rural regions in order to reach all the targeted children, however, in urban regions vaccinations will be undertaken by mobile teams as well as fixed teams in medical centres, health offices, as well as mother and children's centres.
The vaccination will be oral using 19m doses, and about 90,000 healthcare providers will participate in the campaign.