The Government of Sierra Leone has begun rolling out a synchronized supplementary oral polio immunization campaign across the country, targeting children under the age of five.

This campaign aims to safeguard the health of young children and prevent the spread of poliovirus.

It is an initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with Vaccine Alliance, GAVI.

Joining Sierra Leone in this initiative are Liberia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, and Burkina Faso. With 1.8 million doses of vaccines made available for the campaign.

A total of ninety million children are expected to receive the polio vaccine across the six West African States with Sierra Leone aiming to vaccinate 1.5 million children through house-to-house visits.

Harold Thomas, Head of Risk Communication at Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health, emphasized the importance of this campaign in light of the recent discovery of poliovirus type 2 in the sewage of Mabella Community earlier this year.