There is a shortage of Oral Polio vaccines in the Northern Region.

According to reports, it has been out of stock on a national level.

This has created panic among parents who have newborns who should have received the vaccine.

The shortage comes at a time the Northern Region has discovered polio virus in some drains in Koblimagu in the Tamale Metropolis and  Nyanshegu in the Sagnarigu  Municipality.

Deputy Director of Public Health at the Northern Regional Health Directorate, Dr Hilarius Abiwu who confirmed the shortage directed JoyNews to the National Manager Expanded Programme on Immunisation.

Poliovirus is a virus that may cause paralysis and is easily preventable by the polio vaccine.

It is transmitted through contaminated water or food, or contact with an infected person.

Ghana recorded the last case of poliomyelitis caused by wild poliovirus in 2008 and the country was declared polio-free in 2015.

But in 2019 a two-year-old little girl was diagnosed with polio and a couple of weeks ago the virus was also found in some drains in the area.

Parents in the region are calling on government to address the shortage