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A campaign to vaccinate 1.5 million children against polio has been launched in South Sudan, as 15 cases of irreversible paralysis for children under the age of 5 have been confirmed in five states, WHO Africa said Friday.
The campaign was implemented after South Sudan, along with other African countries, was declared polio-free on 25 August. There have been no outbreaks of wild poliovirus in South Sudan for more than 10 years.
To deal with the outbreak, the Ministry of Health has formed “an emergency task force made up of WHO, UNICEF and other partners” to make the necessary arrangements quickly, WHO Africa said in the report.
“As the number of confirmed cases has continued to rise in recent weeks, the campaign targets children in seven states and 45 counties in the first round,” he said.
“We need to move fast to prevent this epidemic from harming more children,” South Sudan Health Minister Elizabeth Achue said in the report.
“I urge all parents to bring their children for polio vaccination, including those who have already been vaccinated,” he said.
“Immunization is a must and complacency can kill,” said Mohamed Ayoya, UNICEF representative for South Sudan in the report.
“We need to ensure that all children in South Sudan are given routine vaccinations that include polio vaccine so that this doesn’t happen again when the epidemic is curbed,” he said. “There’s a lot of love in every needle prick, that’s how we protect the next generation.”
Seventeen African countries “are currently experiencing cVDPV2 outbreaks, which can occur in under-immune communities,” according to the report.
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