Eritrea plans to vaccinate 500,000 children

April 12, 2005

Eritrea officially launched a new national vaccination program yesterday to protect children against deadly polio.

Despite having no confirmed cases of polio since 1997, neighbouring countries such as Ethiopia and Sudan have had more recent cases. The program will take place in two rounds, the first of which runs from Monday till Wednesday this week and the second is planned for May 13-15..

UNICEF says that Africa accounts for 75 percent of polio cases reported worldwide so far in 2005. But efforts are being made to eradicate the potentially fatal virus. A total of 23 countries are currently planning to immunise up to 100 million children across the continent.