UN to launch second round of polio vaccination drive in Somalia

A second round of polio immunization campaign is set to begin in Somalia on Sunday, targeting 1.65 million children aged under five years, with oral polio vaccine in the south and central regions, the UN said on Saturday.

The four-day campaign will seek to end the currently ongoing outbreak of polio, which has already infected 23 children, the ministry of health, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF said in a joint statement issued in Mogadishu.

Fawziya Abikar Nur, the minister of health, said that the first round of this vaccination campaign demonstrated that Somali health workers can be counted on to deliver vital immunization services safely during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The two UN agencies and the ministry of health confirmed that 8,951 well-trained health teams will conduct the final round of a two-round house-to-house polio campaign in the central and south regions of the country, from Oct. 25-28.

WHO said some of the main challenges Somalia faces include reaching vulnerable children who are difficult to access due to security and other logistical challenges, and assuring caregivers that polio vaccines are safe for newborns.