Wild poliovirus in China
The vaccination drive against polio in China continues with unchanged force
21 OCTOBER 2011 - Over 4 million children were again vaccinated with oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) from 8-12 October in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The campaign targeted children under 15 years in the 5 southern prefectures and the capital Urumqi while it was children under 5 years in the northern prefectures.
Special strategies were used to pro-actively identify and vaccinate children in mobile, migrant and other high-risk groups. For example 80% of posts in Urumqi were 'temporary' outside posts, vaccinators were going house-to-house in areas with known higher concentrations of mobile and migrant people. Mobile teams were also used to reach very remote rural areas.
Children received again ear or finger marks to facilitate assessments. Initial reported coverage is over 95% and WHO monitors witnessed the high quality of the vaccination drive.
As of 19 October there are 18 confirmed polio cases; 12 in Hotan prefecture, 5 in Kashgar prefecture and 1 in Bazhou prefecture. Half of the cases are in very young children (under 3 years of age) and half in young adults (19-31 years old).
