Polio Vaccination Campaign Begins in 16 Provinces Through Mosques

The Ministry of Public Health announced the start of a three-day polio vaccination campaign today (Monday) across sixteen provinces in the country.

Sharafat Zaman Amarkhil, the spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health, stated that 6.2 million children under the age of five will be vaccinated in this campaign. 

This campaign is being carried out not in a house-to-house manner, but rather through mosques.

Sharafat Zaman Amarkhil said: “In this three-day campaign, 6.2 million children under five years old will be vaccinated. We ask local elders, scholars, and community leaders to support our teams in the areas so that the polio campaign can be implemented effectively.”

“What happens if a person misses the vaccine? The chain of protection against the disease is broken, which is why it’s essential for everyone in Afghanistan, from the first to the last person, to receive the vaccine,” said Samiullah Ahmadi, a doctor.

Unlike previous campaigns, vaccinators outside one of the mosques in Kabul city explained, the vaccination process has shifted from house-to-house to mosques, and families can bring their children to the centers where the vaccinators are stationed.

“This approach is new for all polio vaccination staff, as well as for families. In previous rounds, we used to go house-to-house; however, now it’s mosque-to-mosque, site-to-site,” Sharifa Rezai, a vaccinator, told .

Sayed Rohullah Ebrahimi, a supervisor for one of the polio vaccination teams, said: “We urge all families to bring their children to the nearest mosque or location where the polio vaccination teams are present to get the polio vaccine.”

Meanwhile, some citizens are requesting that these campaigns continue in a house-to-house format.

“We ask health officials to administer this vaccine in a timely manner to prevent diseases that affect children,” said Bismillah, a resident of Sar-e-Pul.

According to Ministry of Public Health statistics, no positive cases of this disease [polio] have been registered in the country since the beginning of this year. However, the World Health Organization has previously stated that the number of positive polio cases in Afghanistan will exceed twenty this year.