A nationwide anti-polio immunization campaign targeting thousands of children under seven is under way in Tajikistan, according to the Health Ministry.
The first phase of immunization will be carried out this week, with further rounds in the second half of May and in June. Rail and air passengers under 15 travelling outside the country will be vaccinated at medical points at airports and railway stations.
“The debilitating pathogenic Type-1 poliovirus has been confirmed among dozens of hospitalized persons in our republic and it [the poliovirus] has a particular pathogenic factor,” Shamsiddin Jobirov, head of the Tajikistan Immunoprophylaxis Centre, told IRIN in the Tajik capital Dushanbe.
So far 178 suspected cases have been hospitalized and three people have died, according to the Ministry, though the World Health Organization says 12 have died.
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The first phase of immunization will be carried out this week, with further rounds in the second half of May and in June. Rail and air passengers under 15 travelling outside the country will be vaccinated at medical points at airports and railway stations.
“The debilitating pathogenic Type-1 poliovirus has been confirmed among dozens of hospitalized persons in our republic and it [the poliovirus] has a particular pathogenic factor,” Shamsiddin Jobirov, head of the Tajikistan Immunoprophylaxis Centre, told IRIN in the Tajik capital Dushanbe.
So far 178 suspected cases have been hospitalized and three people have died, according to the Ministry, though the World Health Organization says 12 have died.
rk/at/cb
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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