06 Dec 2022

The Ministry of Health will conduct a mop up vaccination campaign of the injectable polio virus vaccine for children aged four months to five years from December 12 to 16, 2022.

A press release from the ministry states that the campaign will be targeting children who missed the vaccine in all the districts across the country.

It further says Botswana recently started environmental surveillance of polio virus after detecting a positive sample of a circulating Vaccine Derived Polio virus type 2 (cVDP2) in a sewage plant in Gaborone.

“This meant that unvaccinated children are at high risk of polio infection,” says the release.

It further says the ministry has also noted low coverage of both the oral polio vaccine and the injectable polio vaccine hence the plan to conduct the mop up campaign. It also states that this will be a facility based campaign, with some outreach activities.

“Facilities will also use this campaign to catch up on other missed under five years vaccine doses,” states the release.

Furthermore, the ministry encourages parents whose children (aged 4 months to 5 years) missed the polio vaccines, as well as other under five vaccines, to visit the nearest health facilities for the mop up campaign. ENDS