Health expert rubbishes reports of polio vaccine harming children

Recent social media reports alleging that the polio vaccine rather leaves children vulnerable to the virus are totally false, absolutely baseless and wholly-ridiculous, according to Dr Kwesi Djokoto, Deputy Director of Health (DDH) in charge of public health in the Volta Region.

“It is rather children who are not vaccinated who are at risk,” he explained.

The social media reports gained prominence prior to the three-day national polio vaccination exercise which ended on Sunday.

Dr Djokoto said in an interview in Ho on Friday that the exercise was meant to protect children under five against the Polio Virus Type 2.

He said the exercise, which targeted 381,563 children in all the 18 districts of the region, took place without any hitch.

“At least 50 per cent of the target was covered on the second day of the exercise,” Dr Djokoto added.

He commended the volunteers and the health supervisors for the great zeal and enthusiasm with which they carried out the exercise.

The Deputy Director of Health expressed gratitude to the media, traditional authorities, National Commission for Civic Education and religious bodies for supporting the exercise in various ways to yield huge success.

Meanwhile, Dr Djokoto has commended the people of the region for their strict adherence to the COVID-19 safety measures, explaining there were now only two active cases of the coronavirus in the region.

“This means we must continue the regular hand-washing culture and observe the other safety precautions without ceasing,” he said.

In a related development, Mrs Vivian Adoboe-Tefe, President of the Ho Rotary Club, has commended the polio vaccination teams for the great work done, adding that they had proved their strong spirit of patriotism through the exercise.