(MENAFN- Afghanistan Times) KABUL: Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) said that anti polio
campaign kicked off Monday, which through polio vaccination teams will visit
5.4 million children under five years old in 179 high-risk districts across the
country.
According to a statementthe campaign will be launched
from 21thto 25thof January in the West, Central and Southeast
regions, and from 28 January to 1 February in the South and the East
regions.
'We will have five vaccination campaigns for the first half
of 2019, we are using this time to build immunity among our people', says the
Minister of Public Health, Dr. Ferozuddin Feroz.
He said that 'we need to work together to end polio for the
world. My fellow Afghans, you are all playing a role, and we need to help each
other, open our doors, get our children vaccinated.Our children are
innocents and rely on us to protect them from preventable paralysis. We cannot
let them down.'
Parents should plan to have their children at home and
available to be vaccinated during the campaign, he added.
All children under five should receive the polio
vaccine, including newborns, sleeping, sick, and visiting children. Children
who miss the vaccination should visit their local health center as soon as
possible, where the vaccine is available free of charge. The polio vaccine is
safe, even for sick and newborn children, he noted.
He said that it is very important these children get the
vaccine, because they have lower immunity which makes them more susceptible to
the virus. Repeated vaccination is crucial for children to build up immunity
against the virus.
Polio vaccination has also been strongly endorsed by national
and global Islamic scholars.
Polio is a crippling and potentially fatal infectious
disease. There is no cure for polio.The polio vaccine is the only
safe and effective way to protect children. All children should be vaccinated
against polio during each campaign, until they reach the age of five.
Currently, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria are the only
three remaining polio-endemic countries in the world.
The Ministry of Public Health urges parents and caregivers
to ensure no child misses the vaccine, as this is the only protection from
polio and permanent paralysis.
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