Launched on 14 October 2022, the polio vaccination campaign in the country was suspended on the evening of 15 October 2022. In a statement dated Monday 24 October, the Minister of Health, Benjamin Hounkpatin gives the reasons for this suspension.
“As part of the global polio eradication initiative, Benin, like other countries in the sub-region, launched a new polio vaccination campaign for children under five on 14 October 2022,” the minister said. But after the first day of vaccination, adverse events following vaccination were reported to the health authorities, who immediately decided to suspend the campaign.
Indeed, rumours that had been circulating for several days on social networks indicated that children had lost their lives in several localities after receiving doses of polio vaccine. There were also allegations questioning the quality of the vaccines administered.
The Minister of Health is reassuring: “The quality of the vaccines is scrupulously controlled before they are used and rigorous measures are taken to ensure that the cold chain is respected at all levels. The vaccines used are therefore safe and effective and the vaccinators are trained in their use. Professor Benjamin Hounkpatin also added that “no child has been vaccinated with outdated vaccines, contrary to the demobilising statements made on social networks”.
The ministerial authority also points out that expert committees at national and international level were immediately consulted to see if the health problems observed in the children were possibly related to the vaccine used. The executive announced that it had requested “an international counter-expertise for the quality control of the batches of vaccines used”.
In the meantime, “all children with adverse events are treated free of charge in public health facilities,” the minister said.
