Mozambique has been removed from the list of countries with the highest rate of zero-dose children globally, the Ministry of Health (MISAU) announced yesterday (17).

The withdrawal is due to the success and effectiveness of the vaccination campaigns carried out by the sector, writes AIM quoting health authorities.

The health authorities explain that zero-dose children are those who, being of vaccination age, have not received any vaccine or have only received the BCG vaccine [the dose given at birth].

"We don't like to evaluate ourselves, but we can say with some certainty that these results are impressive and have contributed to removing Mozambique from the list of countries with the highest number of zero-dose children globally," said the national director of public health, Quinhas Fernandes, at a press conference.

Fernandes added that "we, if I'm not mistaken, should have been the 12th country with the highest number of zero-dose children when we started this process. Today, when we go onto international websites and do the evaluation, our country is no longer there".

The sector carried out three rounds of vaccinations: in the February round, the MoH vaccinated around 860,000 children, including zero-dose children and under-immunized children [children who have not received a full schedule of vaccinations in the MoH's vaccination calendar]; in the second round, in June, the sector vaccinated around 861,000 children, including zero-dose children and under-immunized children; and finally, in September, around 803,000 children were vaccinated.

"So, of the total number of children we vaccinated in the three rounds we did, around 524,383 were effectively zero-dose children and the rest were under-immunized children," he concluded.

It should be noted that the provinces of Nampula, with around 253,000, Zambézia, with more than 111,000 and Cabo Delgado, with 83,000, are the ones that together contributed 85% of all the children that the MoH vaccinated and were zero-dose.

The success of the vaccination campaigns has not only contributed to Mozambique's removal from the list of countries with the highest zero-dose rate, but also to the elimination of some diseases in the country. (AIM)