Health authorities call for polio vaccinations to be stepped up

A child in Hai Ba Trung district, Hanoi, receives an IPV shot as part of the Expanded Immunisation Programme. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi(VNS/VNA) – The National Institute of Hygiene
and Epidemiology (NIHE) under the Ministry of Health has urged localities to
step up polio vaccinations to prevent viral diseases in children born in 2021
and 2022.

According to the institute, many localities had to pause standard
vaccination programmes to focus on COVID-19 vaccination in this period,
resulting in the lowest coverage rates of several vaccines in 20 years.

Both required vaccinations for polio (the oral bPOV and the injection
IPV) in 2021 reached 69% and 80%, respectively. The rates in 2022 were improving
for a bit, hitting 70% and 89%, respectively.

As vaccinations declined across the world due to COVID-19 impacts,
there have been reports of cases of polio spreading from countries where the
disease is still circulating to countries where polio was confirmed to have
been eliminated.

In a meeting held in November last year, the
committee of the WHO Western Pacific Region reclassified Vietnam from the group
of low-risk countries to the group of high-risk countries for wild poliovirus
importation or the occurrence of polio cases caused by mutated strains.

WHO Vietnam and UNICEF late February urged Vietnam Expanded
Immunisation Programme to boost polio efforts, especially for
unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children in 2021 and 2022, to build a
strong immune system for them against wild poliovirus .

Previously, NIHE has urged localities to review the estimated
amount of polio needed and carry out vaccination as scheduled, adding
that there are currently enough doses for all cities and provinces across the
country.

The polio vaccination campaign to ensure enough doses for children
will be conducted in this second quarter, with vaccines coming from GAVI – an
international organisation which helps with immunisation for developing
countries.

Medical supplies including safeboxes and needles have been distributed
to localities, NIHE noted./.