Benin has officially introduced inactivated poliovirus vaccine in its immunisation schedule, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in a statement released Tuesday in Cotonou.
The statement said the new vaccine to be administered through an injection, will reinforce immunisation of children against three types of viruses of the disease.
“The inactivated poliovirus vaccine has been added to the oral vaccine that was already being administered during the door-to-door campaigns which were carried out each year. The campaigns enabled 3.3 million Beninese children aged below five years to be immunised against polio,” it said.
UNICEF said the fight against polio should be reinforced because it is a crippling disease that creates disability for children.
“After six years without any case of wild poliovirus, Benin has been officially certified as a country free of the wild poliovirus,” according to the statement.
“The challenge is to ensure the entire population has access to the new vaccine because it has to be administered by a qualified medical officer in a health center or at a hospital,” UNICEF said. Enditem
Source: Xinhua
