While less than half of Ukrainian children are vaccinated against polio, a lobby calls for the destruction of millions of vaccines provided by the United Nations.
A Ukrainian anti-vaccine association calls for the destruction of 3.7 million polio vaccines donated by the United Nations. She claims that these products are not safe and have lost their effectiveness when shipped by air, can we read in the columns of the British daily The Guardian.
For its part, the World Health Organization (WHO) maintains that air transport and re-freezing of vaccines are in accordance with good international practice. But the association does not budge: these methods would be contrary to Ukrainian directives which prohibit refreezing doses of vaccines, they should therefore be destroyed.
The health of millions of children at risk
Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has launched an investigation which is expected to determine whether the vaccines were stored correctly. The findings and a government decision are expected this week. In the meantime, the vaccines are stuck in refrigerated government warehouses.
For the Minister of Health, Alexander Kvitachvili, the action of lobbyists risks breaking Ukrainians’ confidence in foreign vaccines. However, today they have little choice. The polio immunization program relies heavily on external donations. If the Ukrainian authorities decided to incinerate the millions of vaccines donated by the United Nations, the health of millions of Ukrainian children would be in danger.
Incomplete vaccination coverage
Indeed, since last September, polio has returned to this country of the former USSR. Two unvaccinated children aged 4 and 10 months contracted the disease and are now paralyzed. This is the first appearance of the disease since 1996 in the country, and 2010 in Europe.
With just 14% of children under one year of age vaccinated against polio and incomplete immunization coverage for one in two children, the epidemic is a serious threat in the country. In addition, WHO experts fear the spread of the virus in a more aggressive form. They therefore urge the Ukrainian authorities to resume vaccination campaigns quickly.
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