Polio outbreak in Zimbabwe
Vaccine rollout to start next week
In 2023, Zimbabwe detected seventeen circulating vaccine derived polio virus type 2 (cVDPV2) from environmental samples in Harare since October 2023. The samples were from the 4 polio environmental surveillance sites in Harare.
This prompted the Minister of Health and Child Care to declare a public health emergency (PHE) last October.
Since then, a 10-year-old female acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) case in January 2024 due to cVDPV2 was reported.
In addition, two newly confirmed AFP cases (samples from contacts) have been reported this week.
Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care Sleiman Kwidini urged the public not to panic as the government has taken swift action to contain the outbreak at a media briefing this week.
Kwidini said two rounds of polio vaccinations targeting children below 10 years of age have been scheduled for February and March, with the first round taking place between Feb. 20 and March 1, and the second between March 19 and 29.
A total of 10,517,500 doses of nOPV2 were received on 29 January 2024 for the planned two supplementary immunization activities (SIAs).
Zimbabwe last reported a case of indigenous wild polio virus (WPV) in 1986 and had been certified polio free in 2005.