Egypt has not recorded polio cases since 2007 thanks to annual vaccination campaigns: UN official

CAIRO – 21 June 2021: Egypt has not recorded polio cases since 2007 due to continuous vaccination campaigns that aimed at eradicating the disease, said Randa Abul-Naga, responsible for non-communicable diseases and mental health at the United Nations.

This year, the campaign was launched in February targeting 16.7 million child for free.

This came during the workshop, which deals with the third goal on good health and well-being within the series of workshops organized by the United Nations Information Center to shed light on the goals of sustainable development.

Randa Abul-Naga cited that the campaigns target both Egyptians and foreigners, including refugees. She explained that sometimes they find out cases among refugees who were not officially registered in the country.  

The anti-polio vaccination campaign is carried out annually to keep Egypt free of disease, within the framework of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi's vision to promote public health and achieve sustainable development goals.

Many countries have succeeded in eradicating the disease by vaccinating children under five years old. Egypt joined the list in 2006 with the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF declaring that it was polio-free after the last case was discovered in 2004.

This was due to the extensive vaccination coverage in all the governorates of Egypt through seven doses within the schedule of routine immunizations and the additional doses through periodic national campaigns.

The global strategy in polio eradication recommends introducing an additional dose via injection to the dose of oral vaccination in the fourth month, the remaining six doses to remain oral.