BUJUMBURA August 17th (ABP) – A child who has observed the current schedule well needs to participate in this vaccination campaign against poliomyelitis, including the second round of the vaccination campaign, which begins on August 17, 2023. These are the words of Mrs. Aline Ndayishimiye, leader of the Burundian Association of Pediatricians, during a meeting of exchange between the pediatricians and the authorities of the Expanded Vaccination Program on that campaign.
Mrs. Ndayishimiye explained that in the current program, they administer a vaccine that only protects against two sero-types of poliomyelitis while there are three sero-types. Serotypes 1 and 2 are in the current program but serotype 3 is not. Hence, vaccination for all children, even vaccinated, is essential. Mrs. Ndayishimiye goes on to say that the mission of the campaign is to protect against sero-type 2 because sero-types 1 and 3 do not protect against sero-type 2. “We need to be protected against the 3 sero-types so that we can say that the child is correctly protected against poliomyelitis,” she said.
At the time when there are 3 vaccines (1st, 2nd and 3rd rounds), Mrs. Ndayishimiye explains that when you give a dose, the body produces antibodies resulting in the fall of antibodies, which protects the body. The second and third doses strengthen the body by raising the level of antibodies to its maximum, which will protect the child for several years.
Compared to the side effects that vaccinees can have, Mrs. Ndayishimiye said that the side effects are minimal. She explained that there is more benefit than risk in having your child vaccinated: a child who has not been vaccinated is at risk of paralysis and this paralysis can be irreversible.
As a pediatrician, Mrs. Ndayishimiye calls on all parents who have children who are in the range targeted by the vaccination campaign to respond massively to that vaccination campaign, and to collaborate with vaccinators in the interest of children and the nation, she concluded.