The Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has kicked off the second round of the polio vaccination campaign.
The exercise is being conducted in all five KCCA divisions, including central, Kawempe, Makindye, Nakawa, and Rubaga.
“This is the second round we are vaccinating in response to the outbreak that was discovered here in 2021,” Dr. Denis Buluma, the head of health services in Rubaga, said.
According to Dr. Sarah Zalwango, the acting deputy director of medical services, they are targeting over 600,000 children aged five and below.
“We are targeting all households, so we are moving house to house, then we shall go to kindergartens as well, daycare places, and markets where we can find children to vaccinate,” she said.
KCCA has also called upon parents to ensure that all children aged five and below are vaccinated during this exercise.
It has also been reported that some schools in Kampala had attempted to defy the exercise, claiming they needed to notify parents of children in the boarding section.
“We encourage parents and the administrations of schools to work with the health teams to save children’s lives,” Anderson Burora, the Deputy Resident City Commissioner, said.
According to the World Health Organization, the case fatality ratio for paralytic polio is generally between 2%–5% among children and up to 15%–30% among adolescents and adults.