Launching the first polio vaccine campaign for 2022 in Afghanistan

The United Nations Children’s Fund has announced the launch of a 2022 polio vaccination campaign in Afghanistan.

UNICEF said in a statement that the campaign began today and would last four days, during which 9.9 million children under the age of five would be vaccinated in Afghanistan.

The agency said that 2021 was the year with the lowest rate of polio transmission in Afghanistan, adding that four types of WPVI polio were reported in Ghazni and Kunduz provinces that year.

UNICEF added that last year, in separate campaigns in November, about 8.5 million children were vaccinated in December of that year, and 5 million children under the age of five were vaccinated in Afghanistan.

Alice Akonga; “UNICEF is committed to ensuring that all children in Afghanistan are protected against polio and other vaccine-preventable diseases,” said its representative in Afghanistan. “This year we must step up our efforts to get the polio vaccine to every child and eradicate the disease forever.”

The United Nations Children’s Fund continues its statement calling on the Taliban to protect its staff in Afghanistan.