{"id":101087,"date":"2026-04-19T14:03:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T14:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/national-polio-vaccination-drive-begins-april-27"},"modified":"2026-04-19T14:30:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T14:30:18","slug":"national-polio-vaccination-drive-begins-april-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/national-polio-vaccination-drive-begins-april-27","title":{"rendered":"National Polio Vaccination Drive Begins April 27"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>Staff Reporter<\/p>\n<p>THE Ministry of Health and Social Services has announced the rollout of Round 3 of the national polio vaccination campaign, urging parents and caregivers to ensure that all children aged 10 years and below are immunised as part of efforts to boost immunity and prevent the spread of the virus.<\/p>\n<p>The campaign, scheduled to take place from 27 to 30 April 2026 countrywide, follows the detection of poliovirus type 2 in environmental samples, including a sewage pond in Rundu and more recently in Windhoek and Gobabis. Although no active cases have been reported among children, health authorities have emphasised the importance of strengthening immunity to prevent potential outbreaks.<\/p>\n<p>The Ministry stressed that polio remains a highly infectious disease with no cure, but it can be effectively prevented through vaccination. All children aged 10 years and below are required to receive the vaccine during this round, including those who have already been vaccinated in previous rounds. Children who have since turned 10 after receiving earlier doses are also included to ensure full protection.<\/p>\n<p>Polio is primarily transmitted through contact with the stool of an infected person, as well as through contaminated hands, food, or water. Children who are not fully vaccinated are considered most at risk of infection.<\/p>\n<p>Health officials added that additional vaccine doses are necessary to strengthen immunity. The supplementary doses administered during campaigns such as this one are safe, effective, and essential in building long-term protection against the disease.<\/p>\n<p>While the vaccine is generally well tolerated, mild and short-lived side effects such as low-grade fever, irritability, fatigue, loss of appetite, or mild diarrhoea may occur in some children.<\/p>\n<p>The Ministry added that vaccination services will be widely accessible during the campaign, including through house-to-house visits, outreach mobile sites, health facilities, schools, community centres, open markets, and other public spaces to ensure maximum coverage.<\/p>\n<p>The campaign forms part of ongoing national efforts to close immunity gaps, safeguard public health, and ultimately eliminate polio in Namibia.<\/p>\n<p>Photo: Ministry of Health and Social Services<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Namibia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Namibia. Staff Reporter THE Ministry of Health and Social Services has announced the rollout of Round 3 of the national polio vaccination campaign, urging parents and caregivers to ensure that all children aged 10 years and below are immunised as part of efforts to boost immunity and prevent the spread of the virus. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":101085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[233],"class_list":["post-101087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>National Polio Vaccination Drive Begins April 27 - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Staff Reporter THE Ministry of Health and Social Services has announced the rollout of Round 3 of the national polio va ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/national-polio-vaccination-drive-begins-april-27\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"National Polio Vaccination Drive Begins April 27\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Staff Reporter THE Ministry of Health and Social Services has announced the rollout of Round 3 of the national polio va ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/national-polio-vaccination-drive-begins-april-27\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-19T14:03:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-19T14:30:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2026\/04\/sm_1776596343.046127.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"864\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"423\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/national-polio-vaccination-drive-begins-april-27#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/national-polio-vaccination-drive-begins-april-27\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"National Polio Vaccination Drive Begins April 27\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-19T14:03:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-19T14:30:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/national-polio-vaccination-drive-begins-april-27\"},\"wordCount\":345,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/national-polio-vaccination-drive-begins-april-27#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2026\/04\/sm_1776596343.046127.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/national-polio-vaccination-drive-begins-april-27#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/national-polio-vaccination-drive-begins-april-27\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/national-polio-vaccination-drive-begins-april-27\",\"name\":\"National Polio Vaccination Drive Begins April 27 - 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