Harare, 20 July 2012. This was said by the Honourable Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr Henry Madzorera in a joint press conference he held with the WHO Representative for Zimbabwe, Dr Custodia Mandlhate, the UNICEF Representative Dr Peter Salama and the local and international media. This follows some media reports in the days following the National Immunization Days (NIDs) that some children were falling sick after immunization.

Zimbabwe carried out NIDs from 18th to 22nd June 2012 and more than 2 million children received polio and measles vaccines as well as vitamin A supplementation, with coverages of 102% for oral polio vaccine, 99% for vitamin A, and 103% for measles.

Dr Madzorera said that the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, WHO and UNICEF have set up a task force to investigate the reported cases and the findings of the task force will be shared once they become available. He also said that although adverse events are common after immunization, many of them are coincidental and due to pre-existing conditions, and mainly conditions related to the prevailing poor water and sanitation. He also said the NIDs coincide with the Zimbabwean winter season when children normally get the flu, pneumonia, and rotavirus diarrhoea, and these illnesses have often been labelled as adverse events following immunization. 

The WHO and UNICEF Representatives also reiterated that immunizations still remains a key intervention in preventing child illnesses and deaths. They both spoke about the quality of vaccines used during the campaigns with UNICEF saying it only acquires vaccines that are pre-qualified by WHO, and which undergo further tests by the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe. Dr Custodia Mandlhate also said Zimbabwe has the best cold chain system in the Region down to the district level which is regularly checked and maintained. 

The Honourable Minister said that the vaccines used were not expired, and were administered by trained health personnel, and the cold chain was maintained as per WHO standards. He therefore, urged all mothers and care givers to continue taking children for routine immunizations, and those called for during child health days because immunization is safe for all Zimbabwean children, and still remains a key intervention in giving Zimbabwe’s children a chance in life.