Joint statement: Over 20 million children to be vaccinated in Syria and neighbouring countries
WHO and UNICEF
8 November 2013
Excerpt
The largest-ever consolidated immunization response in the Middle East is under way to stop a polio outbreak, aiming to vaccinate over 20 million children in seven countries and territories repeatedly. Emergency immunization campaigns in and around Syria to prevent transmission of polio and other preventable diseases have vaccinated more than 650,000 children in Syria, including 116,000 in the highly-contested north-east Deir-ez-Zor province where the polio outbreak was confirmed a week ago…
The outbreak of paralytic polio among children in Syria has catalysed the current mass response. The first polio outbreak in the country since 1999, it has so far left 10 children paralyzed, and poses a risk of paralysis to hundreds of thousands of children across the region. Preliminary evidence indicates that the poliovirus is of Pakistani origin and is similar to the strain detected in Egypt, Israel, the West Bank and Palestine.
Dr. Ala Alwan, the World Health Organization Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean noted, “The Middle East has shown exactly the coordinated leadership needed to combat a deadline virus: a consolidated and sustained assault on a vaccine-preventable disease and an extraordinary commitment to a common purpose.”
UNICEF said it has procured 1.35 billion doses of oral polio vaccine (OPV) to date in 2013 and by the end of the year will have procured up to 1.7 billion doses to meet increased demand. Global supply of OPV was already under constraint with vaccine manufacturers producing at full capacity. The new outbreak in Syria is adding further pressure to the supply but WHO, UNICEF and manufacturers are working to secure sufficient quantities to reach all children…
vaccines and global health :: ethics and policy 