Polio Vaccination Campaign Launched In Eastern Provinces

2025-08-30 02:00:20

(MENAFN- Pajhwok Afghan News) KABUL (Pajhwok): A polio vaccination drive was launched on Saturday in four eastern provinces of the country, targeting around 1.4 million children.

In a statement, the spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health, Sharafat Zaman, said the campaign would be implemented in three phases to protect children under the age of five from the crippling disease.

It said the first phase will be held from August 30 to September 5, 2025 in the center and districts of Behsud, Bati Kot, Sorkhrud and Khogyani of eastern Nangarhar province, as well as in Mehtarlam city, the capital of Laghman province, and in Asadabad city, the capital of Kunar province. It would be implemented in 23 districts of the Eastern Zone from October 18 to 24.

The campaign is expected to cover nearly 1.4 million children under the age of five, the report added.

According to Zaman, the fractional injectable polio vaccine (fIPV) is administered subcutaneously to children aged 4 to 59 months through a modern needle-free device (Jet Injector), and the oral polio vaccine (OPV) is administered orally to children from birth to 5 years of age.

The fractional injectable polio vaccine (fIPV) plays an important role in reducing the risk of spreading wild polio virus by boosting children's immunity and strengthening the immunity of children who have already received the oral polio vaccine (OPV), he explained.

“The Ministry of Public Health is committed to protecting every child in Afghanistan from the risk of polio,” Public Health Minister Maulvi Noor Jalal Jalali said in a statement.“In this campaign, we want to ensure that children in the eastern regions of the country receive both injectable and oral vaccines, to strengthen their immune systems and take another step closer to a polio-free Afghanistan”.

He explained the cooperation of all members of society is important and vital in the fight against polio, Parents and family members can protect their children from permanent paralysis by vaccinating their children during the campaign, while elders and local leaders can encourage people to vaccinate their children and support vaccination teams.

hz/ma

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