The vaccination campaign aims to strengthen children's immunity in Egypt, which has been polio-free for 17 years, the health ministry said.

The campaign will cover all Egyptian governorates through fixed clinics and mobile teams on streets and near churches, mosques and metro stations. The campaign aims to vaccinate 16.5 million children.

The initiative will be carried out by 45,000 teams consisting of 90,000 medical personnel who have undergone a training programme, as well as supervising teams from all the ministry’s department.

Ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar explained that the vaccination is free of charge and involves the use of the oral polio vaccine, which involves administering two mouth drops.

Polio is a highly contagious disease that causes lifelong disability.

In February and March 2021, Egypt carried out two national polio vaccination campaigns.

In 2006, the World Health Organisation declared Egypt free of polio, as the last case of polio was recorded in Egypt in 2004.