Government says preparations for the rolling out of cervical cancer and polio vaccines are at an advanced stage.

This was disclosed in Salima during a workshop aimed at developing communication materials for the vaccine campaign which was organized by government and developmental partners.

The Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) will be administered to 14 weeks old babies while the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine for cervical cancer is targeting 9 year old girls.

Media and Public Relations Officer in the Ministry of Health and Population, Adrian Chikumbe, said the Polio vaccine immunization process is expected to commence in November this year while the cervical cancer vaccine will be rolled out in 2019.

Chikumbe said government has outlined a number of activities in preparation for the immunization process.

“The session we had here was one of several activities before the rolling out of the HPV vaccine and the introduction of the Inactivated Polio Vaccine-the injectable one.”

“We are preparing materials that are going to make the public more aware of the two vaccines that we are introducing into the routine vaccinations that we carry out,” he said.

Chikumbe said they are planning to train health workers who are going to do this very shortly.

“For the IPV we are going to have a formal launch somewhere around September if nothing changes.”