Update: mass vaccination with oral poliovirus vaccine--Asia and Europe, 1996

In 1995, a group of 18 geographically contiguous countries in Europe, Central and South Asia, and the Middle East cooperated in conducting coordinated National Immunization Days (NIDs) with oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV). The World Health Organization (WHO) had designated this effort "Operation MECACAR" (MEditerranean, CAucasus, and Central Asian Republics). Operation MECACAR was repeated in 1996 with the addition of the Russian Federation. This report describes OPV coverage achieved during the mass vaccination campaign in 1996 and summarizes the impact of the NIDs on poliomyelitis incidence during 1995, and the first 6 months of 1996.