Minister of Higher Education and Acting Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghafar on Sunday launched the national polio vaccination campaign which runs for four days and targets children from day one- to 5-year-olds.

The minister launched the campaign in the presence of Cairo Governor Khaled Abdel Aal, Head of Preventive Medicine Alaa Eid and Representative of WHO in Egypt Dr Naima El Quseir.

In a statement, Ministry of Health Spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghafar confirmed that vaccination is carried out through the national campaign for children in all kindergartens, and there are fixed teams in all health units, health offices, metro stations, buses, transportation, markets and train stations.

The campaign aims to vaccinate 16.5 million children through 45,000 teams comprising 90,000 members.

The spokesman explained that the campaign is free and the bait used is oral polio bait, where the child is vaccinated with two drops in the mouth while making sure to swallow, to protect children from this highly contagious disease that causes lifelong disability.

He said that the activities of the Ministry of Health in the face of polio, aim to maintain the coverage of children with the vaccination doses contained in the vaccination schedule in Egypt, where all children are vaccinated with 7 doses of the oral bait “Sabien” at birth and at the completion of the age of two months, four months, six months and nine months, one year and eighteen months, in addition to three doses of injectable polio vaccine “Solk” at the completion of two months, four months and six months of age.

Source: State Information Service Egypt