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Catch-up immunization of children against poliomyelitis starts in Kyrgyzstan

Catch-up immunization of children against poliomyelitis started in Kyrgyzstan. Press center of the Ministry of Health and Social Development reported.

The campaign will run from April 19 to May 19, children born between April 1, 2016 and February 15, 2018 will get inactivated polio vaccine (IPV).

Immunization will be free of charge as the vaccine arrives in the country.

The ministry noted that the goal of this campaign is to cover 95 percent of children who missed the vaccination. It is planned to vaccinate more than 270,000 children.

Polio is a dangerous and potentially fatal infectious disease. There is no cure, and the polio vaccine is the only safe and effective way to protect children.

No cases of wild and vaccine-related polioviruses have been registered in Kyrgyzstan since 1993. The country is certified as a polio-free country since 2002.

However, there are endemic countries in which transmission of wild poliomyelitis virus continues: Pakistan, Afghanistan, as well as a number of countries in which circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV) is still registered. And there is a risk of their cross-border spread.

The ministry added that registration of six cases of cVDPV type 2 in Tajikistan was classified by WHO as an outbreak and is assessed as an emergency of the second level of complexity in the field of public health of international importance.

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