National Days of Immunization against Polio is held at the support of the World Health Organization, UNICEF and other partners of Global Initiative on Polio Liquidation.

Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. It invades the nervous system, and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. Oral polio vaccine is only effective way of preventing the decease.

Senior specialist of Uzbekistan Health Ministry Dilorom Tursunova stated that children should be vaccinated even they received inoculations earlier. She said that each unvaccinated child is under threat and represent danger to the health of other children.

The vaccination is important factor for developing health generation, she said. Tursunova added that the polio vaccination is free.

The Uzbek health official underlined that Uzbekistan purchases vaccines against polio with help of the UNICEF to ensure their quality. She added that currently complications after immunization makes up 0.01%. At the same time, she said that doctors should decide to vaccinate children or not at their illness, not parents.

WHO technical specialist Shahin Guseynov noted that some 458 cases of polio were recorded in Tajikistan, 14 in Russia, 3 in Turkmenistan and one in Kazakhstan in 2010. He said that adopted measures, there have been no other cases of polio since October 2010 help

Uzbekistan held four stages of National Immunization Campaign in 2010 to decrease risk of polio spread in the country. The campaigns covered children at the age from 0 to 15. In Surkhandarya region, which borders with Tajikistan, the vaccination covered people up to the age of 25. The fifth round was held in April 2011.