Zimbabwe Launches Emergency Polio Vaccination Campaign Amid Virus Mutation Concerns

Zimbabwe has launched an emergency campaign to inoculate over 4 million children against polio after health authorities detected three cases caused by a rare mutation of the weakened virus used in oral vaccines.

The health ministry said laboratory tests from samples collected from sewage sites in Harare, the capital, late last year, showed the presence of a mutated polio virus that originated in an oral vaccine used in the global eradication effort.

In rare instances, the live polio virus in vaccines can mutate into a form capable of sparking new outbreaks, especially in places with poor sanitation and low vaccination levels. The number of polio cases globally has dropped by more than 99% since the global effort to wipe out the disease led by the World Health Organization and others began in 1988.

Zimbabwe aims to roll out more than 10 million new vaccine doses targeting just over 4 million children below the age of 10 in two rounds in February and March. More than 95% of that population needs to be immunised against polio to stop new outbreaks.

The country’s Health Minister, Douglas Mombeshora, called the new detection of polio “a serious concern” but said they were prepared to respond swiftly. The health ministry is collaborating with health authorities in at least five other African countries that have recently detected polioviruses through environmental sampling and routine surveillance.