Luanda - The second phase of the integrated polio vaccination campaign is to be carried out by the Ministry of Health (MINSA) from June 28 to 30, following the first phase held on May 17 to 19 all over the country.
According to a press release from the Health Ministry, the second phase will take place in the provinces of Bengo, Benguela, Kwanza Sul, Huambo, Lunda Norte, Lunda Sul, Malanje, Moxico, Uíge and Zaire.
The campaigns are being held due to the confirmation of vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (PVDV2) in environmental samples of sewage water collected in Luanda by the World Health Organization Reference Laboratory in South Africa on January 25, 2024.
This isolation occurred at a polio environmental surveillance sampling site in the Luanda’s centrality of Sequele, Cacuaco municipality, on December 5, 2023.
In response to this situation, the WHO has imperatively recommended that two rounds of Polio vaccination be carried out to prevent the gains made in 2014, with the Certificate of Eradication of the disease in Angola, from being compromised.
According to genetic sequencing, the virus has a link to a polio virus reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo, specifically in the province of Cassai Oriental (DRC- KAS-KSH-23-010), and is classified as c-PVDV-2 (Circulating Type-2 Vaccine Derived Poliovirus).
"On February 27, 2024, it was confirmed at a polio environmental surveillance sampling site in the municipality of Huambo, and the genetic sequencing of this virus shows that it is genetically linked to the virus detected in the municipality of Cacuaco, in Luanda," the note said. EVC/PA/TED/AMP
