Polio: No need to panic, says Govt

GOVERNMENT yesterday ordered all private health institutions in the country to stop giving polio vaccinations until they were instructed to proceed.

Panic has set in among sections of the population and many people have streamed to pharmacies and private medical institutions for polio vaccines. Health Permanent Secretary Dr Kalumbi Shangula said the trivalent Oral Polio Vaccine (tOPV) used at some private health institutions was only for children under five years and reduced the immune response to the right monovalent Oral Polio Vaccine (mOPV) that will be administered during the mass immunisation campaign to be launched next week.He confirmed that the cause of the polio outbreak in the country was wild polio virus type one and that the right vaccine was mOPV.Shangula said the trivalent Oral Polio Vaccine (tOPV) would undermine the effectiveness of the mass-immunisation campaign and disrupt the transmission chain.He said any immunisation or the wearing of gloves and masks by health personnel must “stop immediately” as it was causing “mass hysteria” and undermining the Government’s efforts to effectively control the outbreak.”The mode of transmission of polio virus is via faecal-oral route.It is not an airborne virus,” said a visibly disturbed Shangula.He also hit out at a local private hospital that refused to admit patients with suspected polio.”Such discriminatory action is unwarranted and only exposes the ignorance of the decision-makers about the mode of transmission of polio,” he said.Several pharmacies in Windhoek confirmed yesterday afternoon that they had now stopped selling the vaccine.Henry Hopker, President of the Pharmaceutical Society, said it was their professional duty to support the Government action “wholeheartedly”.”We have ethics guiding us.We need to be united on this one,” Hopker said.Shangula said the first round of the State-sponsored mass drive to immunise every Namibian against polio would take place for three days starting from June 21.The second round has been set for July 18 to 20 and the third round, which will only include children under the age of five years, is scheduled for August 20 to 24.Round three will include polio and measles vaccinations as well as vitamin A supplementation.Shangula said mOPV was currently not available in Namibia but would arrive in the country on June 16.He confirmed that the number of people killed by the virus so far remained at seven.Those suspected of being infected by the virus has now reached 39 with a new case reported in the Oshikoto Region.Shangula said Government would need N$27 million to immunise two million Namibians.Cabinet has already appealed to UN agencies and other donors to assist with the mass-immunisation campaign.Maggy Nghatanga, Director of Primary Health Care, said they were sorting out logistics on the campaign and that pamphlets would be distributed from Wednesday.The first polio case arrived at Windhoek’s Katutura Hospital from Aranos in the south on May 10.The World Health Organisation announced that the person is a 39-year old man.He is still alive but on ventilator support.Sixteen days later, a second case was admitted to the Roman Catholic Hospital in Windhoek.Shangula said they had decided to immunise every Namibian because those so far infected were mostly older than 14 years.Only three are aged 14 years or younger while the oldest person is 76 years old.Shangula urged the public to take proper sanitation and hygiene measures by washing hands after using the toilet and before eating, to wash all unpacked foodstuffs such as fruit and vegetables and boil water before drinking it if the source of water was suspect.He said any one who experienced symptoms of polio should immediately go to the nearest health institution for treatment.WHO confirmed that the wild poliovirus type one was consistent with a case detected in Angola that was of Indian origin.”An international team is in the country to assist the national authorities,” the WHO announced on its website.Routine immunisation coverage within Namibia varies by region from 60 per cent to 80 per cent.Health Permanent Secretary Dr Kalumbi Shangula said the trivalent Oral Polio Vaccine (tOPV) used at some private health institutions was only for children under five years and reduced the immune response to the right monovalent Oral Polio Vaccine (mOPV) that will be administered during the mass immunisation campaign to be launched next week.He confirmed that the cause of the polio outbreak in the country was wild polio virus type one and that the right vaccine was mOPV.Shangula said the trivalent Oral Polio Vaccine (tOPV) would undermine the effectiveness of the mass-immunisation campaign and disrupt the transmission chain. He said any immunisation or the wearing of gloves and masks by health personnel must “stop immediately” as it was causing “mass hysteria” and undermining the Government’s efforts to effectively control the outbreak.”The mode of transmission of polio virus is via faecal-oral route.It is not an airborne virus,” said a visibly disturbed Shangula.He also hit out at a local private hospital that refused to admit patients with suspected polio.”Such discriminatory action is unwarranted and only exposes the ignorance of the decision-makers about the mode of transmission of polio,” he said.Several pharmacies in Windhoek confirmed yesterday afternoon that they had now stopped selling the vaccine.Henry Hopker, President of the Pharmaceutical Society, said it was their professional duty to support the Government action “wholeheartedly”.”We have ethics guiding us.We need to be united on this one,” Hopker said.Shangula said the first round of the State-sponsored mass drive to immunise every Namibian against polio would take place for three days starting from June 21.The second round has been set for July 18 to 20 and the third round, which will only include children under the age of five years, is scheduled for August 20 to 24.Round three will include polio and measles vaccinations as well as vitamin A supplementation.Shangula said mOPV was currently not available in Namibia but would arrive in the country on June 16.He confirmed that the number of people killed by the virus so far remained at seven.Those suspected of being infected by the virus has now reached 39 with a new case reported in the Oshikoto Region.Shangula said Government would need N$27 million to immunise two million Namibians.Cabinet has already appealed to UN agencies and other donors to assist with the mass-immunisation campaign.Maggy Nghatanga, Director of Primary Health Care, said they were sorting out logistics on the campaign and that pamphlets would be distributed from Wednesday.The first polio case arrived at Windhoek’s Katutura Hospital from Aranos in the south on May 10.The World Health Organisation announced that the person is a 39-year old man.He is still alive but on ventilator support.Sixteen days later, a second case was admitted to the Roman Catholic Hospital in Windhoek.Shangula said they had decided to immunise every Namibian because those so far infected were mostly older than 14 years.Only three are aged 14 years or younger while the oldest person is 76 years old.Shangula urged the public to take proper sanitation and hygiene measures by washing hands after using the toilet and before eating, to wash all unpacked foodstuffs such as fruit and vegetables and boil water before drinking it if the source of water was suspect.He said any one who experienced symptoms of polio should immediately go to the nearest health institution for treatment.WHO confirmed that the wild poliovirus type one was consistent with a case detected in Angola that was of Indian origin.”An international team is in the country to assist the national authorities,” the WHO announced on its website.Routine immunisation coverage within Namibia varies by region from 60 per cent to 80 per cent.