The La Nkwantanang Municipal Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has launched the National polio immunization programme at the Madina Polyclinic in the early hours of today the 31st of August 2022.
The launched brought together various stakeholders including Assembly members, teachers, religious leaders, nursing mothers and health practitioners to find ways of sensitizing the public ahead of the introduction of the Novel OPV vaccine type 2 (Nopv2) campaign to prevent the circulating vaccine derived polio virus type 2 among children under five.
The exercise which commences on the 1st of September will be is expected to vaccinate over forty thousand children within the La Nkwantanang Madina Municipal Assembly and will be done in two rounds with the first round starting from 1st to 4th of September, 2022 and the second round from 6th to 9th of October 2022.
In an address delivered by the Municipal Health Director, Dr. Mrs. Priscilla Anima Poku, she underscored the need for all embrace the programme since the novel type 2 oral poliovirus vaccine is designed to respond to ongoing polio outbreaks due to circulating vaccine-derived type 2 polioviruses.
She went on to admonish parents who have children aged under five to protect their children by not missing out on the dates earmarked for the immunization exercise.
She also added that parents pay attention to places where their kids play, develop the habit of keeping high hygienic standards and ensure clean environment at all times to help prevent children from contracting the virus since polio virus is contracted from.
On his part, Presiding Member who doubled as the Chairman for the occasion, Braimah Blay expressed delight and appreciation over the programme which according to him has been introduced at the right time considering the rise in reported cases and challenged his colleague Assembly members to carry the message to the local people for a successful exercise.
Bainamultimedia/Mallam Fary
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