KOTA KINABALU: A total of 795,437 or 93.22 per cent of children aged 13 and below in Sabah have received the first dose of bivalent Oral Polio Vaccine (bOPV) through the Sabah Polio Immunisation Campaign (KIPS) as of last Wednesday since the campaign began in December last year.
Sabah Health Department (JKNS) director Datuk Dr Christina Rundi said the figure is an increase of 0.94 per cent or 7,406 children who received the vaccine within one week.
“As for the second dose of bOPV, 730,807 children had received the vaccine as of last Wednesday, which covered 85.65 per cent of children aged 13 and below in Sabah,” she said in a statement here yesterday.
She said JKNS aimed for immunisation coverage of 95 per cent for children aged 13 and below to ensure the buildup of herd immunity to curb the spread of polio.
Dr Christina said so far only seven districts, namely Ranau, Tambunan, Kuala Penyu, Beaufort, Kinabatangan, Kunak and Nabawan had reached the 95 per cent coverage of children receiving polio vaccine.
“Polio outbreak can be ended when the herd immunity is achieved, which is immunisation coverage of over 95 per cent,” she said.
Sabah recorded four cases of polio since December last year, namely two cases in Sandakan and one each in Tuaran and Kinabatangan districts.
Previously, the disease has been eradicated for almost three decades. — Bernama