Story by Tarirai Madhuyu

GOVERNMENT says it is rolling out an emergency national polio vaccination campaign after a new poliovirus variant was detected in Sanyati.

The Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care, Honourable Sleiman Kwidini has announced that a new poliovirus variant type 2 is circulating in the country and the region.

The government is therefore rolling out two rounds of polio vaccination campaigns.

The first round will be conducted from the 20th of February to the 1st of March, while the second campaign will run from the 19th to the 29th of March.

“The Ministry wants to announce that vaccination teams will visit homes and schools to vaccinate every child below the age of 10 due to the recording of polio cases detected in Sanyati. Poliovirus is spreading because there are unimmunized children, which means they are not protected from poliovirus infection, and it can easily attack them. Given the contagious nature of the circulating poliovirus and their capacity to evolve, the Ministry strongly encourages all parents and caregivers of children to ensure that all children below the age of 10 are vaccinated against polio and protected,” said Honourable Kwidini.

The new variant referred to as circulating vaccine-derived polio virus-type 2, is a rare type of poliovirus that can occur when the weakened live virus in the oral polio vaccine (OPV) mutates over time and easily circulates in the community.

So far, the country has recorded a single case in the Sanyati area of Mashonaland West province, with vaccines for the vaccination campaign having already been procured.

Several countries in the region have also detected the new poliovirus variant through environmental sampling surveillance and these include Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique and Burundi.