By Manasse Nyirenda and George Bulombola:
Parents and guardians of under-five children have been advised to take advantage of the third phase of Polio vaccination campaign which will run from Augut11 to 14, 2022 by ensuring that children are vaccinated against Polio.
The call was made Wednesday at Ezondweni Primary School in Mzimba North by Senior Chief Mtwalo when he presided over the launching ceremony of third Polio vaccine campaign in the district.
Mtwalo advised parents against denying their children from getting vaccinated saying doing so will be counterproductive to the campaign.
“Let me also take advantage to advise some religions which deny their congregants the right to access health services against discouraging parents from having their children vaccinated. Stakeholder should report such religions to authorities for redress there and then,” said Mtwalo.
Director for Health and Social Services (DHSS) for Mzimba North, Shadreck Ngwira was optimistic that his office through coordination and partnerships, will reach about 113,000 children as the districts target.
“We faced some challenges in the first and second phases since they were conducted in rain season and this affected mobility of disease contral; assistants in reaching out to children,” said Ngwira.
Speaking at Ngonga in Rumphi District, Western Nyirenda who the DHSS for the district, expressed hope that the campaign will be a more successful compared to the previous phases.
“We managed to register 96 percent of the targeted children in the first phase and we achieved 106 percent in the second phase,” said Nyirenda.
“The second one was even more successful as we surpassed our target covered 106 percent of the target,” he.
He said his office and in collaboration with other player will continue striving to fight against the misconceptions surrounding the vaccine to ensure that all targeted children targeted for the campaign are vaccinated.
On his part a Polio survivor, Peter Miyanga who works with Malawi Against Physical Disabilities (MAP) urged all parents to ensure that their children are vaccinated since their immune system is not strong enough to fend off Polio attack on its own.
