First phase of UAE-wide polio vaccination campaign ends

DUBAI // The first phase of the Ministry of Health’s national vaccination campaign against polio came to an end on Thursday.

The campaign, launched on November 16, aims to inoculate 470,000 children up to the age of five against polio across the UAE.

Dr Hussein Abdel Rahman Al Rand, assistant under-secretary for health care centres and clinics at the Ministry of health and head of the campaign's organising committee, said the oral vaccine is administered for free for nationals, residents and visitors, reported Al Ittihad, the Arabic language sister paper of The National.

Dr Ibrahim Alqadi, head of preventive medicine section at the Ministry of Health, said vaccinations will continue to be administered in specified healthcare centres and clinics throughout the UAE.

He added that the World Health Organisation recommended the launch of the campaign due to the outbreak of polio in neighbouring countries, in view of boosting children’s immunity and keeping the country polio-free, despite no polio cases having been registered in the UAE since 1992.