Garowe — Puntland Ministry of Health has officially launched a five day vaccination campaign for polio eradication on Thursday, Garowe Online reports.

Speaking at a launching ceremony held at the ministry headquarters in Puntland capital of Garowe, Puntland Health Minister Dr. Ali Abdullahi Warsame said the mass campaign will reach various places across Puntland including rural areas and faraway towns and villages.

The minister added that his ministry wants to dispatch 800 teams of polio workers reaching out to each and every child who could be at risk of getting wild poliovirus especially those living in Sool and Sanaag regions after some cases were reported from Sool regional capital of Lasanod last week.

Both Dr. Ali and Abdi Hagaa, the head of WHO Puntland and UNICEF official respectively who also spoke at the ceremony emphasized the need for pre-cautionary measures as they have received 83 cases from southern Somalia and called on the parents to bring their children at any nearby health facility for immunization.

Puntland Parliament Speaker Abdirashid Mohamed Hirsi who gave the first polio vaccination drops to a young child at the spot told that some parents hide their children from the polio workers "I request you [parents] to make your children available for the immunization since wild poliovirus is serious and cause irreversible paralysis".

Puntland Ministry of health together with its partners including WHO and UNICEF previously conducted several rounds of vaccine exercises targeting children less than five years.

This immunization campaign comes as polio outbreak claimed at killed at least 11 people in Hiraan region of south central Somalia and some cases were reported from Sool region.