Featured Stories
Nigeria prepared to deploy over 1.6 million doses of the MenFive pentavalent vaccine in March to combat a growing meningitis C outbreak in two northern states. According to local media, 1,043,377 doses have been approved by WHO’s International Coordinating Group to address the outbreak in six areas of Jigawa: Babura, Birniwa, Gagarawa, Gumel, Maigatari and Sule Tankarkar. Separately, WHO reported that 587,870 doses have been allocated to neighboring Yobe state, targeting susceptible people between ages 1-29 in Fika, Nangare and Potiskum. The developments mark the first deployment of doses from the Gavi-funded stockpile in an emergency setting. WHO prequalified MenFive in July 2023. Nigerian Tribune; WHO; Gavi; Daily Trust
Ethiopia launched a nationwide HPV vaccination campaign on March 4. In a bid to reach more than 1.5 million girls age 14, vaccinators will administer doses in schools, health facilities and temporary immunization stations. In Addis Ababa, the health department deployed 142 vaccination teams to 820 schools and additional health facilities as they targeted 31,485 girls from March 4-8. The present year marks Ethiopia’s transition from a 2-dose to a 1-dose regimen for HPV shots. WHO Ethiopia; Ethiopia MoH; Ethiopian Herald
Outbreak Response
Pakistan targeted over 8.8 million children under age 5 with polio vaccine in a March 25-28 campaign spanning three provinces. Coming in the wake of what the government called the country’s first two WPV1 cases of the year, the effort sought to reach districts where the virus had been detected ahead of the high travel season of the Eid holiday. The exercise focused on 11 districts in Balochistan (where both cases occurred), seven in Punjab and eight in Sindh. In Punjab, over 30,000 polio workers and supervisors aimed to immunize 4.5 million children across seven districts, including Dera Ghazi Khan, Faisalabad, Kasur, Multan, Okara and Rahim Yar Khan. Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme; Government of Pakistan (1); Government of Pakistan (2); 24 News HD; Business Recorder
Burkina Faso conducted a nationwide measles-rubella vaccination campaign March 15-21, targeting over 3.4 million children ages 9-59 months in 170 health districts. The effort came in response to a growing nationwide measles outbreak with more than 3,000 suspected cases in 2024 to date. In Ioba province’s Dano health district, officials hoped to vaccinate at least 44,150 children at health facilities, nursery schools and kindergartens, markets, and places of worship. WADR; AIB; ReliefWeb
South Sudan began a nationwide nOPV2 campaign February 27, targeting 3.1 million children under age 5. According to WHO, the two-week exercise followed confirmed cVDPV2 cases in unvaccinated children in the states of Central Equatoria, Upper Nile and Western Equatoria. Preliminary monitoring estimated that the house-to-house efforts had reached 81% of targeted children. A second campaign phase is scheduled to start sometime in April. WHO; WHO South Sudan
Somalia launched a five-day anti-polio campaign on March 3, aiming to provide nOPV2 to over 2.7 million children under age 5 in 80 of the country’s districts. UNICEF Somalia; WHO EMRO Director
The DRC carried out a three-day nationwide polio vaccination campaign March 28-30. Haut-Uélé province hoped to reach 471,364 children under 5; in Kasaï Oriental, more than 2,000 teams of vaccinators aimed to reach 1,135,165 children; Kwilu’s target was 1,206,500 children; and Maniema targeted 600,000 kids. Ahead of the exercise, national polio officials urged media to help reduce vaccine refusals by disseminating high-quality information about the campaign. WHO AFRO; ACP Congo; Actualite (1); Actualite (2); BLN; Radio Okapi; ACP (1); ACP (2)
Yemeni officials reached more than 1.3 million children under 5 with nOPV2 in a door-to-door campaign February 25-27. The effort, spanning 12 governates, involved 845 fixed-site teams and 5,882 mobile teams across 120 districts. According to the U.N., campaign coverage ranged from 89% to slightly more than 100% across targeted geographies. WHO; U.N.
Cameroon conducted a three-day nationwide OPV campaign beginning March 1, targeting more than 1 million children under 5. Vaccination teams conducted the effort through door-to-door outreach and at hospitals, schools, markets and places of worship. Xinhua; CNA
Local Campaigns
India ran a nationwide “Pulse Polio” event on March 3, targeting all children up to age 5. Spanning up to five days in some areas, the push included OPV administration at temporary immunization booths, health centers, hospitals, transit sites, religious sites and other public spaces, along with door-to-door outreach. In Bangalore, officials targeted 6,285,880 children under 5 by leveraging more than 111,000 vaccinators. In Tamil Nadu, the state health department aimed to reach 5,784,000 children under 5. Economic Times; Bangalore Mirror; The Hindu
Panama began a nationwide measles vaccination campaign on March 11. The two-month house-to-house push aimed to reach 293,645 children under 5 across all 10 provinces. Health officials noted that no juvenile measles cases had been reported in Panama since 1995. Prensa Latina
Mexico City’s health ministry launched a 10-day MMR vaccination campaign on February 28. Officials expect to reach more than 10,000 children (age 1 for the initial dose or age 6 for the booster) over the course of the initial effort, leveraging 234 health centers and 166 semipermanent vaccination sites across the metropolitan area. More than 126,000 additional doses are available for further outreach throughout the year. SEDESA
Tuvalu began a 12-week typhoid vaccination campaign in late February. The exercise—relying on a supply of 10,000 TCV doses—will focus on people ages 9 months-65 years at schools and other community gathering spaces in the country’s capital, Funafuti, before expanding to outer islands in the archipelago nation. UNICEF; UNICEF Pacific; Coalition Against Typhoid
The Philippine municipality of Pinamalayan in Oriental Mindoro province launched an HPV immunization campaign on March 13. The community- and school-based effort is targeting girls ages 9-14. The Philippines kicked off a nationwide school-based HPV campaign in February 2023. PIA
The Peruvian capital of Lima ran a catch-up MMR vaccination campaign March 19-22 focused on children under 5. The effort, which leveraged 4,400 educational institutions throughout the greater metropolitan area, came on the heels of a larger nationwide catch-up campaign that took place in February. CrónicaViva