GHS plans to vaccinate 1.4 million children in the Ashanti Region

After the discovery of a strain of polio type 2 from a Circulating derived Virus, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has launched a new oral polio vaccination program in the Ashanti Region. This campaign began after the novel strain was found in September in the New Juabeng Municipality of the Eastern Region. It was genetically linked to a comparable type 2 strain found in Algeria.

The director of Ashanti Regional Health, Dr. Fred Adomako-Boateng, made the announcement in Kumasi and stressed the significance of the vaccination program.

Ghana has made significant progress in controlling wild forms of polio, but he expressed concern that the emergence of this new strain poses a serious danger to the nation's efforts to eradicate the illness.

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Dr. Adomako-Boateng cautioned that poor sanitation and low vaccination rates in the nearby districts could prevent a polio outbreak.

In order to shield their children from this potentially crippling illness, he counseled parents and guardians to make sure their kids get the immunization.

The GHS is committed to implementing this immunization program with zeal, targeting 1.4 million children in the Ashanti Region.

The health authority hopes to prevent the spread of the new strain of polio and safeguard public health by increasing vaccine coverage.

“The sequencing results indicate the virus is genetically linked to virus isolates in Algeria. Typically, if it was in Algeria and it’s in Ghana, it means if it’s in the Eastern Region, all children in the country are at risk,” he cautioned.