Polio Vaccine

 Written by: Muhammad Arif Rahimi

Polio is a disease that has no treatment. This disease is eliminated almost in all countries without Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria. Positive cases of polio are still registering in the mentioned countries. Polio has a vaccine that is being developed and implemented by the Ministry of Public Health in Afghanistan in collaboration with the World Health Organization. How dangerous is this disease, and why do some families do not vaccinate their children? AEPO’s writer/producer has talked to some people about the importance of the polio vaccine.

Assadullah Wardak says, “My cousin is about 25 years old, and he is suffering from polio. His feet and hands are paralyzed and he could not talk either.”

A woman, a resident of Laghman province, who doesn’t want to mention her name, says, “Some children in our village are suffering from polio.

They are paralyzed. When I asked their mothers about the causes of their children’s disease, they did not know about it and when I asked if they have applied the polio vaccine to them, they replied that the men of the families do not let them to apply the polio vaccine to their children.”

Doctor Sahibuddin Amarkhel, a physician at Maidan-Wardak health provincial department says, “Poliovirus is very contagious disease and spreads through person-to-person contact. It lives in an infected person’s throat and intestines. It enters the body through the mouth and spreads through contact with the feces of an infected person; droplets from a sneeze or cough of an infected person. Paralysis is the most severe symptom associated with polio because it could lead to permanent disability and death.”

How do people apply the polio vaccine?

Muhammad Omar, a resident of Logar province says, “I have 5 children I have applied polio vaccines to all of them. I have applied the first dose of vaccines in the first week of the birth of my child. The second one after 45 days; I have applied all the doses of polio vaccines to my children on time.”

Razia Muhammadi says, “I have already applied polio vaccines to my all children according to the card given me in the health center.”

Doctor Amarkhel says, “Polio has no treatment and the only way to prevent children from polio disease is by applying polio vaccine to the children. Parents should apply 5 doses of polio vaccine. The first dose is given to an infant in the first week of his/her birth. The second dose after 45 days; the 3rd dose is giving after 75 days; the 4th dose is given after the completion of 105 days of the childbirth and the last dose is applying after 9 months. And  in the second stage, we have 4 programs of polio vaccine in the year and the vaccine should be applied to the children under 5 years and these vaccines are in the form of drops and the vaccinators give 2 drops of polio vaccine to every child.”

What do people think about the benefits of polio vaccine?

A mother from Laghman says, “I have applied polio vaccine to my all children to prevent paralyzing and now they all are healthy and strong.”

Muhammad Omar says, “My children are healthy and they go to school with enthusiasm and could learn their school lessons without any problems.”

Doctor Amarkhel says, “Applying polio vaccine to the children, causes to reduce the cases of paralyzing due to polio disease. Before we were registering about 1000 polio cases daily in Afghanistan but after the applying of the polio vaccine, the number reduced to about 10 such cases in a year. The children who have taken the polio vaccine, would be strong and talented.”