- Around 90 percent of Namibians should have been vaccinated against polio by this morning, a top health official indicated yesterday. "We are very pleased with the turn-out. The nation has really taken our message seriously. Most people came out on the first day. In most places the estimation of numbers caught us by surprise," Health Permanent Secretary Dr Kalumbi Shangula told 'The Namibian' yesterday.
Meanwhile, the number of suspected and confirmed cases of wild poliovirus stood at 118 yesterday afternoon.
However, Shangula noted that no new deaths had been recorded but he said they made a mistake earlier by announcing that 15 people had died. "In actual fact, only 14 people died. One case was recorded twice," he said.
Yesterday, long, snaking queues were once again evident in many parts of the country on the second day of the mass immunisation drive. Health directors in other parts of the country said they were on course for a hugely successful vaccination campaign. Health personnel said everyone in Namibia had until 21h00 today to get their first two drops of monovalent Oral Polio Vaccine (mOPV) for the first round.
Shangula estimated that around 90 per cent of the nation would be vaccinated by this morning and that today would mainly be for mop-up operations. He said there were instances where double the number of expected people had turned up for the free polio immunisation drops. As a result, he said, they had struggled with the logistics.
Shangula said a quick assessment was done yesterday morning to redistribute the vaccine to areas where more people were turning up. This led to a delay in the teams going out on the vaccination drive. "Somehow the population has increased dramatically and we wanted to make sure that everybody who turned up got the drops," he said.
Government estimated that two million people would be vaccinated but ordered vaccine for 2,5 million. Today is the last day for the first round of immunisation being conducted from 07h00 to 21h00 at various points. Everyone is also expected to go for follow-up vaccinations during the second round, set for July 18 to 20.
The third round is scheduled for August 20 to 24. It will be for children under five only and include polio and measles vaccinations as well as vitamin A supplementation.
Government decided on the mass campaign after health authorities realised that they were dealing with an outbreak. The first polio case was recorded when someone from Aranos was admitted in Windhoek on May 10. Since then a number of cases have been recorded. Up until the outbreak, Namibia had been polio-free for 10 years.
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