March 2022: Malawi begins 1st round of polio outbreak response

Malawi launched the first round of a six-day polio outbreak response campaign March 21, targeting 2.9 million children under age 5 with bivalent oral polio vaccine (bOPV). The country declared an outbreak February 17 after discovering its first wild polio case in 30 years—the first such case on the continent since 2020. Using a regional approach, a four-round vaccination drive will administer more than 80 million doses to over 23 million children across five southern African countries. The first round targets 9.4 million children in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia. Three subsequent rounds—which will include Zimbabwe—are set for April, June and July. WHO Malawi; WHO Malawi (2)