1.39 Million Syrian Children Vaccinated Against Polio in the Sixth Round

The ACU-run polio control task force said 1,393,173 Syrian children were vaccinated against polio during the sixth round of the anti-polio campaign in the rebel-held areas of seven provinces, namely Aleppo, Idlib, Hama, Deir Ezzor, Lattakia, Raqqa and Hasaka. The task force said that the fifth round began on May 3rd and that the teams were faced by a series of difficulties, most notably the displacement of people from one area to another inside Syria or to neighboring countries and the regime’s daily bombing especially on Aleppo and its countryside. The numbers of children vaccinated were cited as 545,861 in Aleppo, 248,985 in Idlib, 214,491in Raqqa, 289,558 in Deir Ezzor, 47,855 in Al-Hasakah, 39,402 in Hama, and 4,883 in Latakia. The polio control task force launched earlier this year the six-round vaccination campaign in the opposition-held areas of seven Syrian provinces. 1.25 million children were vaccinated in the first round, 1.4 million in the second, 1.41 million in the third, 1.44 million in the fourth, and 1.38 in the fifth. The task force ensured the safety of cooling equipment and the readiness of volunteer teams to overcome the difficulties they faced in the last round. The teams received vaccines allocated to the fifth round from the Directorate of Health in Gaziantep, Turkey. The polio control task force was composed through the efforts and coordination between ACU, local councils and a number of local and international non- governmental organizations under the slogan “Let’s End Polio in Syria.” The team is composed of 8,000 volunteers and more than 200 doctors. (Source: Syrian Coalition + ACU)