DRC launches three-day large-scale immunization campaign using novel Polio vaccine

DRC—The Democratic Republic of Congo DRC has initiated a comprehensive immunization campaign spanning 20 provinces, targeting 17 million children under 5 years of age.

The World Health Organization Regional Office in Africa (WHO-AFRO) has designed this highly coordinated approach as part of the Polio Eradication Program.

To support the campaign, the DRC has already received and distributed 20 million doses of the novel polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2).

Previously, this vaccine has been effective in halting outbreaks of circulating variant poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2).

Unlike previous rounds, which were limited to two provinces, this campaign aims to cover a broader geographical area.

The DRC has accounted for nearly half of the reported cases of cVDPV2 in the WHO-AFRO region, with 407 cases documented between January 2022 and the end of May 2023.

To address this challenge, the country’s Ministry of Health, Hygiene, and Prevention, with support from WHO, has prioritized reaching under-immunized communities.

Efforts will also focus on strengthening engagement with local leaders and influencers to foster trust and acceptance of the vaccine.

The DRC is among the 21 countries in the WHO-AFRO region that have received over 600 million doses of the vaccine since its rollout in March 2021.

Encouragingly, more than 80% of these countries have reported no further transmission of cVDPV2 following two successful immunization rounds.

African countries are at the forefront of deploying this new tool to protect children against the most prevalent form of polio.

WHO’s Regional Office for Africa has identified interrupting the transmission of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) and ending outbreaks of cVDPV as key priorities.

Polio technical experts are collaborating closely with national health authorities to enhance country-level capacities, aligning with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) Strategy 2022-2026.

This strategy emphasizes integrating polio activities into essential health programs to reach zero-dose children.

WHO’s Polio Eradication Programme in the African region has employed geographic information systems and other innovative tools to rapidly map health facilities’ locations.

These tools aid in locating eligible children, including zero-dose children, and tracking the movements of vaccination teams during polio outbreak response campaigns, even in remote areas.

Kebba Touray, head of the AFRO Geographic Information System Centre, highlights that these solutions are now being utilized beyond polio, supporting other health interventions in the WHO African region.

Dr. Lusamba Kabamba, GPEI coordinator in the DRC, emphasizes the valuable advantage of monitoring pre-campaign activities using new technologies. The Open Data Kit tool, a simple mobile application, enables independent monitors, vaccinators, supervisors, and health workers to collect and log data and key observations to plan and evaluate the quality of vaccination campaigns.

nOPV2: Key in Polio eradication efforts

According to a WHO-AFRO report, more than 80 million children in six African countries have received the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2).

Africa was the first region to roll out this vaccine shortly after it received Emergency Use Listing status from the World Health Organization (WHO) in November 2020.

Nigeria led the way by using nOPV2 to combat an outbreak in March 2021, vaccinating 7 million children across six states.

Subsequently, Benin, Congo, Liberia, Niger, and Sierra Leone also introduced the vaccine by September 2020.

Although Africa was declared wild polio-free in August 2020, cases of circulating vaccine-derived polio type 2 continue to be reported.

Nevertheless, remarkable progress has been made, with polio cases decreasing by 99% since the establishment of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988, reducing the estimated annual total from 350,000 to a fraction of that number.

The current vaccine initiative is part of “The Big Catch up” campaign launched by WHO, Rotary International, UNICEF, Gavi (the Vaccine Alliance), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This campaign aims to address declines in essential childhood immunization caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on a global scale.

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