Vaccination: Protection That Cannot Wait

Feel It
Haffiya Elyas
hafielyas@yahoo.com

The national polio response campaign in Khartoum State begins tomorrow, October 26, targeting 829,682 children from birth to five years of age across the state’s seven localities. The four-day campaign, which runs until October 29, will be carried out by 4,690 teams and team leaders. Yet behind these figures lies a responsibility far greater than implementing a vaccination campaign: protecting an entire generation from a disease that can have lifelong consequences for children and their families.

The campaign comes amid health challenges caused by the war, including displacement, changing living conditions and difficulties accessing essential services. The detection of a single polio case further underscores the urgency of a swift response to prevent the virus from spreading and protect other children.

The danger of polio lies in its potential to cause permanent disability, while vaccination remains the primary means of protection against the disease. Therefore, the deployment of vaccination teams to homes, neighbourhoods, villages and displacement sites is more than a field operation; it is an essential step towards ensuring that no child is left unprotected.

The campaign targets children across all parts of Khartoum State, including outlying areas and displacement settlements. It also offers an important opportunity for families whose circumstances during the war may have disrupted their children’s routine immunisation schedules to strengthen their immunity and protect them against the disease.

Rumours: Another Battle That Matters

The success of the campaign depends not only on the availability of vaccines and the deployment of field teams, but also on addressing rumours and misinformation that may lead some families to refuse vaccination or hesitate to allow immunisation teams to reach their children.

This highlights the important role of health promotion departments, working alongside journalists, community leaders, mosque imams and preschool education officials. Accurate health information must reach the public in clear and convincing language, addressing people’s concerns without exaggeration or downplaying the risks.

Engagement with families must also be based on respect and effective communication, while safeguarding household privacy and allowing families to ask questions and obtain information from official sources. Building trust between health institutions and communities is essential to the success of any immunisation campaign.

The Media: A Partner in Protecting Children

During campaigns of this nature, the media’s role goes beyond announcing start and end dates or repeating the number of targeted children. It also involves correcting misconceptions, explaining the importance of routine immunisation and encouraging families to ensure that their children receive all recommended doses.

Media organisations must use every available channel to reach the public, including radio, television, newspapers and digital platforms. They must also verify information before publishing it and avoid giving rumours the opportunity to influence families’ health decisions.

This responsibility requires sustained cooperation between the media and health authorities. Public awareness efforts should not end when the campaign concludes; they must continue to promote a culture of prevention and strengthen public commitment to children’s health.

Leave No Child Behind

Protecting children against polio is a shared responsibility involving the Ministry of Health, families, communities and the media. Every family should view the campaign as an opportunity to safeguard its children, welcome vaccination teams, cooperate with them and seek clarification from the relevant authorities whenever concerns or questions arise.

Losing a child’s vaccination card should not prevent follow-up or access to immunisation services. Health authorities can consult their records and coordinate with the relevant institutions to verify previous doses in accordance with established procedures.

The real goal is not simply to reach the targeted number of children, but to ensure that every child receives the necessary protection, wherever they may be and whatever circumstances they face.

Children are not responsible for the hardships caused by war and displacement. They deserve to grow up healthy and protected from preventable diseases. In this context, vaccination is not merely a dose administered to a child; it is an investment in a child’s life and in the future of an entire family and community.

Let us turn the campaign’s slogan into everyday action and work together to ensure that no child is denied the right to protection.