Parents urged to give children polio vaccination

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Pang (third right) meeting with Dr Zaiton (third left) at Sandakan Health Clinic recently.

SANDAKAN: Parents are urged to bring their children under the age of 13 to receive the oral polio vaccination (OPV) that is available in all public health clinics here.

According to Elopura Community Development Leader (CDL), Jason Pang, he had met Sandakan Health Clinic director D. Zaiton Yahaya who had asked him to spread the message to the locals as the number of those who had received the vaccination is still low.

Pang said the statistics is still being gathered, but he was told that Sandakan Health Clinic aims to achieve full coverage, with no children left behind so that they could reach the zero infection target.

“The OPV has weak virus vaccine. When a child is immunized with OPV, the weak virus vaccine will react in the intestine for a duration of time and build an antibody for polio virus,” he said.

Pang urged the people of Sandakan to cooperate with Sandakan Health Clinic healthcare personnel and get the polio vaccination for the health and wellbeing of Sandakan folks.

He said the vaccination will be given to those under 13 years old for free.

“I also hope that the people of Sandakan would not be affected or swayed with the false claims spread by the anti-vaccine people who are always not satisfied with the health system in our country. Believe that the vaccination is effective and safe,” he added.