THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC), in conjunction with the Health and Child Care ministry will this week embark on the third phase of the national novel Oral Polio Vaccine Type 2 (CPV2) campaign.
The campaign will be conducted in two rounds with the first round being conducted from November 26 to 29 while the second round will run from January 14 to 17, 2025.
The target is to vaccinate at least 95% of the children from the age of 10 and below.
Bulawayo town clerk Christopher Dube, in a notice, said the virus had infected neighbouring high-risk countries such as Malawi and Mozambique.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected all routine immunisation service delivery in Zimbabwe. This has resulted in low population immunity and surveillance gaps which has resulted in a greater risk for the polio virus to spread,” he said.
“Furthermore, since Zimbabwe started the environmental surveillance, there has been continuous isolation of vaccine derived poliovirus (CVDPV) from the samples collected which means the polio virus is still circulating.”
As a result, this has necessitated the conduct of Polio Supplementary Immunisation Activities to improve herd immunity in the country.
“Vaccines will be given at all municipal clinics, central hospitals, Mater Dei Hospital, selected private surgeries, Crèches, primary schools, marketplaces, churches, bus termini and outreach points including house to house,” Dube said.
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The Primary and Secondary Education ministry and other partners are also taking part in the campaign.
