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Tag: Poliovirus

  • All London children under the age of 11 to receive the polio vaccine

    All London children under the age of 11 to receive the polio vaccine

    An additional push will be made to get children immunized against polio in London in an effort to stop the disease’s spread.

    As part of a summertime catch-up program, vaccinations will be provided to every child between the ages of one and eleven.

    The virus was discovered in sewage in north and east London during routine inspections, prompting health officials to issue a warning that there had been “some transmission” in the city the previous year.

    The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) declared that booster shots will be provided to primary school students because vaccination rates are still too low in several boroughs.

    Polio, which was officially eradicated in the country in 2003, can cause paralysis in rare cases and be life-threatening.

    Dr Vanessa Saliba, consultant epidemiologist at the UKHSA said: ‘While there are early signs of reduced spread of the poliovirus in London, we need to continue to improve uptake of childhood vaccines in all communities.

    ‘Until we reach every last child, we cannot be sure that we will not see a case of paralysis.

    ‘Even a single case of paralysis from polio would be a tragedy as it is completely preventable.

    ‘Only by improving vaccination coverage across all communities can we ensure resilience against future disease threats.’

    Children will be vaccinated at primary school or community clinics, and there will be a focus on communities with the lowest levels of uptake, the UKHSA said.

    Figures show 87.6% of children in London are receiving all their polio vaccinations by the time they turn one, compared to 92.1% in England as a whole.

    Uptake for the pre-school booster for children aged five is even lower at 69.9% in the city compared to 83.4% in England.

    The campaign comes after a total of 135 poliovirus type 2 isolates were identified in 30 sewage samples collected in London between February 8 and November 8 last year.

  • Africa is one-step away from wild polio eradication verdict

    The African region completes a critical step towards wild polio eradication. As the independent commission to decide on the African Region’s wild poliovirus-free status has concluded its final field visit to Nigeria today, after conducting critical analysis to verify the documentation presented by the Nigerian Government.

    The Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC) for wild poliomyelitis eradication carried out similar field visits in all the 47 countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) African Region to verify the absence of wild poliovirus while ensuring that disease surveillance is undergoing according to certification-standard. It has already accepted the documentation of 43 African countries with only Cameroon, Central African Republic, Nigeria, and South Sudan remaining.

    For its final field verification visit in Nigeria, the ARCC visited selected health facilities at Central, State, Local Government Authority and Ward levels in the states of Kwara, Kogi in the North Central Zone; Borno and Bauchi in the North East Zone; and Kano and Sokoto in the North West Zone.

    “This verification visit is an opportunity for Nigeria to demonstrate to the rest of the world that it is on the verge of ending the chapter of wild poliovirus from its history. The virus has paralysed thousands and killed scores of Nigerians for decades. Today, every Nigerian is very excited about the prospects of this historic achievement,” said Dr Faisal Shuaib, Executive Director of Nigeria’s National Public Health Care and Development Agency.

    The commission will finalize documentation review of the four countries in June before making its final decision on the certification of wild poliovirus eradication in the African Region.

    “The World Health Organization will continue working with all Member States to ensure that all the commission’s recommendations are implemented,” said Dr Pascal Mkanda, WHO Polio Eradication Programme Coordinator for the African region.

    “We are hopeful that the commission will in June certify that the region has eradicated wild poliovirus,” said Dr Mkanda.

    No wild poliovirus has been detected anywhere in Africa since 2016. This stands in stark contrast to 1996 when wild poliovirus paralysed more than 75,000 children across every country on the continent.

    The primary requirements for the region’s certification are that no wild poliovirus transmissions are detected for a minimum of three consecutive years in all the region’s countries and that a high-quality certification-standard of acute flaccid paralysis surveillance is in place in all countries for those three years. In addition, countries must maintain high immunization coverage for the oral polio vaccine, have a robust national polio outbreak preparedness and response plan and a functional National Polio Certification Committee.

    Source: allafrica.com