"Angola successively eradicated the circulation of poliovirus in 2015, but analysis of vaccination coverage data for bivalent oral polio and inactive polio for the period from 2022 to the first quarter of 2023 shows that children's immunity to types 1, 2 and 3 of the poliovirus is currently low, estimated at less than 60 percent", reads a statement sent to Lusa.
"The time to act is now," said WHO representative in Angola, Humphrey Karamagi, adding: "We all have a responsibility to support central and local governments to ensure that our children under five years of age are vaccinated and protected against paralysis."
During the two rounds of vaccination carried out in September, more than 5.4 million children up to the age of four were vaccinated nationally, in an action that involved 38 thousand health professionals in almost 8500 vaccination teams.
"When a positive case is reported, 200 children around us are already infected; we cannot let our guard down, we have to continue vaccinating all children", said the coordinator of the Expanded Immunization Program, Felismina Neto, quoted in the statement.
Poliomyelitis is a serious disease that can cause irreversible paralysis, and is contracted, particularly in developing countries, through water contaminated by human feces and mainly affects children under the age of five.
