By Tammy O'Reilly
HEALTH WORKERS around the City will have their hands full administering polio and measles vaccines to more than 285 000 of Johannesburg's children of five years and under when a national immunisation campaign kicks off on Monday 26 July.
Officials are urging parents to ensure their children are protected against two of the world's most infectious diseases by allowing health workers to vaccinate their children at points around the city.
The World Health Organisation has set its sights on the worldwide eradication of polio by 2005. South Africa adopted the WHO's eradication policy in 1988 and mass immunisation campaigns have taken place here every four years since 1995.
"Even though the last confirmed case of polio in this country was recorded in 1989, South Africa has still not been declared polio-free, " says Dr Baski Desai, Johannesburg's deputy director of communicable diseases.
As for measles, last year 88 confirmed cases were reported in the city. Outbreaks are still occurring: this year the tally of confirmed cases has already reached 74.
The strategy of the 2004 campaign is to vaccinate all children from birth to five years against polio. The measles vaccine will be administered to children from nine months to five years.
Because children need two doses of the polio vaccine for it to be effective, it will need to be administered twice - once between 26 July and 30 July, and then again about a month later, from 30 August to 3 September.
The measles vaccine, however, will only be given with the first round of the polio vaccine.
"Two separate vaccines will be given to children. The polio is given orally in the form of drops and the measles vaccine is injected, " explains Desai.
The vaccines will be available at doctors' rooms and at all clinics and hospitals in the city. But health workers - including student nurses and volunteers - will also go to crèches, orphanages, libraries and shopping malls.
"We are reaching out. We are not waiting for the children to come to us, we are going to them," says Desai.
The City's health department has also asked people to take note that the vaccines given during the mass campaigns do not replace the routine childhood schedule.
The department says "all children within the specified age group should be brought for immunisation, even if they are up to date with routine immunisations".
"Anyone who has had two or more doses of the polio or measles vaccines can safely have another."
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