The first phase took place from May 16 to 19 this year and the second from June 28 to 30, during which millions of children between zero and four years of age received a dose of the immunogen.

The TPA report said that in the third round, all infants vaccinated in the previous phases should also receive the corresponding dose of the vaccine, so parents were urged to take them to the nearest health center, in case the officials do not reach their homes.

Angola detected this year the presence of vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (PVDV2) in environmental samples of sewage collected by the polio surveillance site located in the Sequele centrality, municipality of Cacuaco, in Luanda.

The pathogen was confirmed by the World Health Organization Reference Laboratory in South Africa on January 25 and, according to genetic sequencing, is linked to a poliovirus reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo, specifically in the province of Oriental Kasai.

The Health Ministry also announced that on February 27, another polio environmental surveillance sampling site confirmed the presence of the virus, this time in the municipality of Huambo, in the province of the same name, and genetic sequencing confirmed its relationship with the virus detected in Luanda.

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