Nationwide rollout of IPV polio vaccination campaign underway across Nepal

KATHMANDU: The nationwide campaign against polio, using the IPV (Inactivated Polio Vaccine) vaccine, has commenced in Nepal.

Under this campaign, 1,462,712 children will receive the vaccine.

“The IPV vaccination campaign has started in seventy-seven districts, and IPV arrangements have been made at regular vaccination centers,” stated Gautam, the chief of the Central Polio Campaign.

He also informed that from Jestha 26 until now, the campaign will continue, targeting children who missed the routine polio vaccination from 2073 to 2075.

Despite the initiation of vaccination in Nepal since 2071, the absence of IPV vaccines worldwide from 2073 to 2075 resulted in children across the country missing out on polio vaccination, he noted.

In the regular vaccination schedule, children are supposed to receive vaccines to protect them from thirteen different diseases within fifteen months of their birth.

Additionally, children who missed vaccines during that period are to receive catch-up doses between sixteen to twenty-three months.

Moreover, according to a report sent by a correspondent from Taplejung headquarters to Phungling Bazaar, a campaign targeting 7,000 children has begun in the district.

The District Polio Coordination Committee has informed that the campaign will be conducted in nine out of the district’s nine local levels from Jestha 18 to Jestha 25, involving 305 vaccination centers throughout the district.

For the campaign, 398 centers have been designated across the district. Additionally, 121 health workers and 796 volunteers are engaged in the campaign.