Sixth Round of Polio Vaccination Campaign Begins in Six Syrian Provinces

The ACU-run polio control task force began the sixth round of the vaccination campaign against combat polio in Syria on May 24 in the provinces of Latakia, Idlib, Hama, Raqqa and Al Hasakah, while it will begin in Aleppo on May 27. The polio control task force said they had received the anti-polio vaccines from the Turkish Red Crescent for the sixth round of the vaccination campaign organized by ACU. The task force distributed the vaccines to centers located in the opposition held areas. ACU said that the sixth round will kick off in late May after the completion of the technical and logistical preparations. The task force has already completed five rounds of the house-to-house campaign. The mobile teams are composed of over 8,000 volunteers. Over 1.38 million children aged between one day and five years were vaccinated against the epidemic in the fifth round which ended on 18 May. The representative of the Directorate of Health in Aleppo received 750,000 doses of the vaccine allocated to the province. The health directorates and local councils are the most prominent contributors to the campaign. (Source: Syrian Coalition)