Uganda receives ten million polio vaccination shots.

Uganda got 10,997,500 doses of the Novel Oral Polio Vaccine on Tuesday to immunize children under the age of five.

Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the Ministry of Health’s Senior Public Relations Officer, confirmed this.

“Today, Uganda received 10,997,500 doses of the Novel Oral Polio Vaccine (nOPV2), which will be used to immunize 8,791,710 children under the age of five,” stated Ainebyoona.

The vaccinations will be stockpiled at National Medical Stores until being utilized in a big door-to-door polio immunization campaign in November and early December 2021.

The news comes months after Uganda declared a polio outbreak in the country, based on positive laboratory testing from environmental samples collected in Kampala.

It should be mentioned that Uganda was declared polio-free by the World Health Organization in August 2020.

After collecting samples from sewage facilities in Bugolobi and Lubigi, the Uganda Virus Research Institute confirmed a circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Virus type 2 (cVDPV2) in August, according to the health ministry.

Reduced immunisation rates during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as cross-border travel between countries hit by the outbreak, were blamed by the ministry for the reappearance.

Dr. Henry Mwebesa, the Director General of Health Services, indicated that the health ministry would begin a statewide door-to-door Polio immunisation campaign in October and December 2021 as a means of containing the outbreak.

“Health workers will go from house to house, vaccinating all children under the age of five against Polio.” To ensure that children are safely vaccinated, all health professionals participating in the campaign will wear masks and closely follow the COVID-19 SOPs,” Dr. Mwebesa said in August.

Polio is a virus that spreads from person to person mostly by the faecal-oral route, but can also be spread through contaminated water or food. It multiplies in the intestines.