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A major operation.
The Ministry of Health will launch, on November 30, the National Polio Vaccination Days across the entire national territory. This large-scale operation aims to strengthen prevention and consolidate the collective immunity of children, in a context marked by the recent detection of isolated cases of variant poliovirus.
The organization of this campaign comes following the appearance of a few cases of variant poliovirus type 2 (VDPV2) in certain wilayas. The ministry emphasizes, however, that these cases do not call into question the status of Algeria, recognized free of wild poliovirus since 2016.
According to the ministry, the campaign aims to reach 4,425,502 children aged 2 to 59 months, considered the most vulnerable category. Vaccinations will be provided in 274 local public health establishments, according to a national calendar organized in three successive phases.
The first will take place from November 30 to December 6, followed by the second which will take place from December 21 to 27. Finally, a third phase is scheduled from January 25 to 31, 2026, entirely devoted to the administration of the injectable IPV vaccine, an essential step to strengthen the immune protection of children.
The ministry specifies that all children belonging to this age group are affected by all phases, including those who have already received the vaccinations provided for in the routine national calendar.
In order to adapt the national prevention strategy, it was decided to adopt the type 2 oral vaccine, recognized for its effectiveness and safety against variants, while maintaining the use of the injectable IPV vaccine.
The ministry reaffirms that the vaccines used are safe, effective and consistent with international recommendations. Each dose administered helps protect the health of children, interrupt the circulation of the virus and consolidate the health security of the country.
The Ministry of Health invites all parents to participate massively in this campaign by going to the nearest health center or by requesting the mobile vaccination teams deployed throughout the duration of the operation.
Through this coordinated national effort, health authorities reaffirm their commitment to preserving Algeria’s achievements in the eradication of polio and protecting future generations.
This initiative is part of the continuity of prevention and epidemiological monitoring actions carried out by the Ministry of Health, in coordination with international authorities, in order to preserve the country’s health gains, particularly in terms of the eradication of poliomyelitis and to consolidate the protection of the population in the face of emerging infectious threats.
As a reminder, the deputy director of prevention and responsible for the expanded national polio program at the Ministry of Health, Dr Youcef Laïd, noted, during an information day on polio vaccination, organized in November, that our Algeria was officially declared a “polio-free country” by the Regional Certification Commission for the Eradication of Poliomyelitis in Africa in November 2016, during the session held in Accra in Ghana.
“At the continental level, the WHO African region was certified free of wild poliovirus on August 25, 2020. It should be noted that the last case of wild poliovirus type 1 recorded in Algeria dates back to 1996. In 2022, Algeria experienced an importation of polio virus type 2 variant (cVDPV2) into the wilaya of Tamanrasset, followed by other isolated cases in several regions,” recalled Dr Laïd. However, this importation, he insists, does not compromise the status of a “polio-free country”.
“This situation requires a quality response. These derived viruses appear when vaccination coverage is not complete, allowing a weakened vaccine strain to mutate and become pathogenic again. This episode, however, highlighted the need to introduce a more stable and safer vaccine, nOPV2,” he explained.