Featured Stories
The Republic of the Congo ran a mass vaccination campaign against yellow fever August 5-12. Supported by Gavi, UNICEF, WHO and other partners, the effort mobilized more than 13,800 health professionals to reach over 4 million people ages 9 months to 60 years in 11 of the country’s 12 departments. The Pointe Noire department, which previously ran a reactive yellow fever campaign that reached 93% coverage, did not participate in the drive. Gavi
Vanuatu became the fourteenth country globally to eliminate trachoma. The achievement was made possible in part by successful mass drug administrations that reached even the most marginalized and hard-to-reach people with azithromycin. The national program to eliminate the disease began after 2014 surveys revealed that 12% of children ages 1-9 had active trachoma infections. WHO
Outbreak Response
Bangladesh ran the second round of an oral cholera vaccination campaign August 3-10 in five diarrhea-prone areas of the capital: Dakshinkhan, Jatrabari, Mirpur, Mohammadpur and Sabujbag. The effort targeted those who received their first dose during Round One of the campaign, which aimed to reach 2.3 million people over age 1 (excluding pregnant women). Daily Bangladesh
Pakistan’s Punjab province ran the first round of a cholera outbreak response campaign in 17 high-risk union councils of Lahore from August 10-15. The effort targeted 1.2 million people ages 1 and older with oral cholera vaccine. The second phase is set to begin in three months. The Nation; Dawn
Malawi’s Neno district launched an oral cholera vaccination campaign on August 1. The effort aimed to reach about 163,000 people ages 1 and above with a first vaccine dose between August 1 and 5, and a second dose between August 22 and 26. Malawi Voice
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) began an Ebola vaccination campaign on August 25 in the city of Beni in the North Kivu province, responding to a single confirmed case in the region. A ring vaccination approach will inoculate close contacts of the confirmed Ebola patient using an initial shipment of around 200 doses of the rVSV-ZEBOV shot. Analysis of virus samples taken from the case showed that it was genetically linked to the 2018-2020 outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri provinces. WHO; Reuters
Zimbabwe kicked off a door-to-door measles mass vaccination campaign in August, targeting all children ages 6 months to 15 years regardless of vaccination status. The effort was launched in an attempt to contain an outbreak that has infected over 2,000 people and killed numerous children since April. The Sunday Mail; The Herald; VOA; Reuters
Local Campaigns
Indonesia kicked off the second phase of its National Child Immunization Month (BIAN) on August 3 in seven provinces of Bali and Java. The catch-up campaign will target children under age 5 who missed their diphtheria, hepatitis B, meningitis, pneumonia, polio, tetanus or whooping cough shots. Health authorities are also aiming to administer about 9.4 million doses of measles and rubella vaccine to children on the two islands. In its first phase, BIAN administered vaccines in 27 provinces on the islands of Kalimantan, Maluku, Nusa Tenggara, Papua, Sulawesi and Sumatra. Across all phases, the initiative aims to reach more than 36 million children. Antara News; WHO; Jakarta Post
Namibia ran a two-week national integrated immunization campaign August 8-19. The countrywide effort offered a range of health services for children, including measles and rubella immunization (for those under age 5), other routine vaccines, vitamin A supplements and albendazole deworming tablets. People ages 12 and older were offered Covid-19 vaccines. The campaign also provided iron supplements for pregnant women. WHO Namibia tweet; WHO Namibia Facebook post
Brazil will run a national multi-vaccination campaign August 8-September 9 to combat polio and several other diseases. The initiative will provide 18 types of vaccinations for children and adolescents under age 15. It aims to immunize 14.3 million children under age 5 against polio. Agência Brasil
India’s Gujarat state launched a vaccination drive against 12 diseases on August 5. Around 2.6 million pregnant women, children and hundreds of thousands of students from about 50,000 schools will be targeted in the campaign. Pregnant women will be given tetanus and diphtheria vaccines while targeted children receive vaccines against all 12 diseases. DeshGujarat
Polio Spotlight
August saw multiple countries address polio through outbreak response drives, local campaigns, or national efforts.
- The U.K. in August began offering an extra dose of inactivated polio vaccine to all children ages 1-9 in London following the detection of cVDPV2 in wastewater from the British capital. The booster campaign—which aims to reach nearly 1 million children—is in addition to a polio vaccine catch-up campaign across London, where childhood vaccination uptake is lower than the rest of the country. K. government; BBC
- Nigeria’s Borno state ran a four-day vaccination campaign against polio August 10-13 that reached over 2.3 million children under age 5 with novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2). An additional six rounds of the exercise will be carried out before year-end. Radio Nigeria; Sun News Online
- Malawi kicked off the third round of a polio outbreak response campaign on August 11, targeting around 4 million children under age 5 with oral polio drops. The country declared a wild poliovirus outbreak in February and ran the first two rounds of the four-round effort in April. WHO
- Pakistan launched its third nationwide polio campaign of 2022 on August 22. The door-to-door five-day effort will deploy around 392,000 frontline workers to provide oral drops to about 43.3 million children under age 5 across 108 districts. Campaign activities started on August 15 in Karachi and South Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and on August 29 in Balochistan. Despite tightened security for the polio workers—including thousands of police personnel and hundreds of police patrol vehicles—shooters opened fire on a polio vaccination team in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on the campaign’s second day, killing two policemen. Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme; UrduPoint; Daily Times; ABC