UNICEF to begin polio vaccination campaign in Afghanistan with Taliban’s support

Kabul, Afghanistan: For the first time in the past many years, the international organisation – United Nations has announced a polio immunisation campaign in Afghanistan. 

UNICEF noted that the organisation is having the full support of the Taliban. The polio immunisation campaign will commence from November 8, 2021. 

Taliban will also permit the female staff at the polio campaign and will provide security to the teams, according to the sources. 

Unicef further added that a house-to-house immunisation campaign would aim to reach approximately 10 million Afghan children under the age of five.

Unicef representative in Afghanistan – Hervé Ludovic de Lys, asserted that “This decision would allow us to make a giant stride in their efforts to exterminate polio. To completely eliminate polio, every child in every household across Afghanistan must be vaccinated.” 

In a combined statement issued by WHO – World Health Organization, and UNICEF, the organisations cited that this polio campaign would be the first in more than 3 years to reach all children in Afghanistan, including more than – 3.3 million children in some parts of the country who have previously remained inaccessible to the vaccination campaigns. 

In the past, the militant group have opposed vaccination, wrongly claiming it was a Western conspiracy to purify Muslims.

Dapeng Luo, WHO Representative in Afghanistan, cited, “This is an extremely important step in the right direction. We know that multiple doses of – oral polio vaccine offer the best protection, so we all are glad to see that there is another – campaign planned before the end of this year. Sustained access to every child is important to end polio for good. This must remain a top priority.”  

The statistics further show that Afghanistan has only reported one case of polio in 2021 and thus has higher chances of eradicating polio. 

A supplementary dose of vitamin A would also be provided to children between the age group of – 6 to 59 months during the upcoming campaign.