Dushanbe. June 15. “Asia-Plus” -- Another phase of the nation-wide polio vaccination campaign starts in Tajikistan today.

Children under 6 years of age will be vaccinated for the fourth time, while children from 6 to 16 will be vaccinated for the second time.

Speaking about the increase in vaccination phases, director general of the Republican Immunoprophylaxis Center of the Tajik Ministry of Health Shamsiddin Jobirov told the AP that in case of polio outbreak vaccination should be conducted until the end of the epidemic. “Taking into account the fact that children under six years of age represent the risk group, we decided to conduct additional vaccination for them. Vaccination is the only way to combat the disease and we do everything we can to protect our children’s health,” he said.

He stressed that vaccine is harmless to children’s health and will strengthen their immunity. “We are planning to conduct another phase of polio vaccination for children and teens from 0 to 15 years of age in September this year,” he said.

Turning to the recent travel ban on children from Tajikistan, which was mainly introduced by the Russian Federation, Jobirov said that there are no barriers for children travelling outside Tajikistan, however, all children should have a vaccination certificate. “Anyway, children who lave Tajikistan and travel to Russia will undergo one more vaccination in Russia,” he added.

Nation-wide polio vaccination campaign was launched in Tajikistan on May 1 this year focusing on children under 6 years of age. The second phase was conducted from May 15 to May 22 and the third, which also covered children from 6 to 15 years of age, was conducted on June 1. A total of 2 million 900.646 children under 15 were covered by the vaccination.

There are no problems with vaccine for the fourth phase of the campaign, which is scheduled for June 15-19, Jobbirov has said.

According to Chief Sanitary Physician of the Republic, Deputy Minister of Health Azam Mirzoev, not a single polio case was registered in the country in recent days. Thus, the total number of people with polio symptoms registered in the republic remains unchanged – 515 people, of which 150 cases were confirmed and more than half of them received treatment and discharged.