Africa's largest polio vaccination drive since 2020 targets 21 million children.

The exercise, which will begin in Cameroon, Chad and Niger before being extended to the Central African Republic next week, comes in response to 19 detections of type-2 polioviruses in the countries; 2 in Niger, 10 in Chad, 4 in Central Africa Republic and 3 in Cameroon.

The multi-country initiative is supported by the World Health Organization (WHO), through the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), and comprises synchronized vaccinations and joint plans in border communities to halt polio transmission.

'This is a crucial undertaking to close vaccination gaps in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and will provide millions of children with vital protection from the risk of irreversible polio paralysis,' said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. 'Synchronizing the campaign will ensure that a large cohort of children across the four countries receive the vaccine at the same time to enhance polio immunity in a broad geographic area.'

The Lake Chad basin region is grappling with one of the world's most protracted incidents of armed violence. It is also home to one of the highest proportions of so-called 'zero dose' children globally, who are either unvaccinated or under-vaccinated.

This is a crucial undertaking to close vaccination gaps in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and will provide millions of children with vital protection from the risk of irreversible polio paralysis. Synchronizing the campaign will ensure that a large cohort of children across the four countries receive the vaccine at the same time to enhance polio immunity in a broad geographic area

All the four countries have made huge efforts to bolster polio detection, curb the spread of the virus and protect children from the risk of infection and lifelong paralysis. However, despite all being certified free of indigenous wild poliovirus ongoing circulating variant poliovirus type 2 persists.

Across the countries, governments have continued to improve the quality of immunization activities, bolstered by the broad implementation of supplementary immunization campaigns. These are targeted at addressing the residual risks for all forms of poliovirus...