“This The campaign is an important milestone in our effort to vaccinate every child in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and protect them against common childhood diseases.,” said UNICEFActing representative of the country – better known as North Korea – Roland Kupka.
“This is the first step in restoring routine vaccination and closing the gap that has left children vulnerable “To preventable diseases,” he added.
AboutFour million doses of essential vaccines, including Pentavalent, measles-rubella (MR), tetanus-diphtheria, BCG, hepatitis B and inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV), were delivered to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in July to kick-start this expanded catch-up.
Two million doses of these will be used in the current catch-up vaccination campaign, while the rest will be sent to health centres across the country to strengthen routine vaccination programmes.
COVID-19 setback
The COVID-19 The pandemic has caused a major drop in vaccination rates in North Korea.
While national rates were above 96 percent before the pandemic, they dropped to below 42 percent by mid-2021, putting countless children at risk of deadly diseases such as polio, diphtheria, measles, rubella and hepatitis.
Between In 2021 and 2023, UNICEF supported three previous catch-up vaccination campaigns in the DPRK, reaching nearly 1.3 million children in total who missed out on essential vaccinations during the height of the pandemic.
The current vaccination campaign is aimed at children and pregnant women in all 210 provinces who have not received life-saving vaccines since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
UNICEF Campaign Efforts
More than 7,200 health workers have been trained to manage vaccination campaigns and treat possible reactions to the vaccine.
In addition, UNICEF provided new freezers, refrigerators, cool boxes and temperature labels to ensure the vaccines remain effective even in the most remote areas.
The agency is also supporting the campaign by monitoring the supply and administration of the vaccine and tracking its coverage to ensure its success.
“To sustain progress in restoring pre-pandemic vaccination levels and ensure every child receives essential, life-saving vaccines, we urge the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to quickly allow the return of UNICEF and UN international staff to the country,” Mr Kupka said.