By Benjamin Epeduno
KATAKWI!
Iteso cultural institution has directed all clan chairpersons to mobilise all the public in Teso to accept the ongoing Polio vaccination programme in Eastern Uganda.
The call was sounded by Simon Peter Ojaman who is an adviser to His Highness Paul Sande Emolot-Etomaileng, the Iteso Cultural Leader stating the initiative as key in the health of Ugandan children.
Ojaman said this today 2nd, October 2024 at Katakwi District Chambers where all District ICU clan chairpersons were called for a Polio vaccination programme by the Ministry of Health experts.
Hon. Geoffrey Omolo, the LC5 for Katakwi district said, the vaccine is safe, secure and effective urging the public and mostly church institutions to avoid politicising the government program.
The Ugandan Ministry of Health is set to administer the new oral polio vaccine (nOPV2) to over 8.7 million children aged zero to five years old in a 47 district door-to-door campaign from Thursday to Sunday October 2024, as part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF.
According to Dr. Richard Kule, the National supervisor for Polio campaign in Katakwi under Ministry of health, the vaccination targets children with the age five (5) and below.
Kule says, the exercise is for four (4) days starting Thursday this week, 3rd of October to 6th Sunday 2024 at the usual areas of immunisation across the Districts.
The District health educator in Katakwi, Michael Okiror said that, after the vaccination at the usual or selected community points, the vaccine will be staged at the health facilities across the country.
According to report from District health office in Katakwi, they are targeting to vaccinate a total of 43,997 of children under the age of five (5).
What’s polio;
A virus that may cause paralysis and is easily preventable by the polio vaccine.
Polio is transmitted through contaminated water or food, or contact with an infected person.
Symptoms
Requires a medical diagnosis
Many people who are infected with the poliovirus don’t become sick and have no symptoms. However, those who do become ill develop paralysis, which can sometimes be fatal.
Benefits of the vaccine! (The vaccine is safe and effective)IPV protects against severe disease caused by poliovirus in almost everyone who has received all the recommended doses. Two doses of IPV provide at least 90% protection. Three doses of IPV provide at least 99% protection.
What is the effectiveness of the polio vaccine?
A completed polio vaccine series confers high levels of immunity. After three doses of the standard four-dose series of the inactivated polio vaccine, efficacy stands at 99% to 100%.
