Over 40m children to be vaccinated in countrywide anti-polio campaign

ISLAMABAD: Over 40 million children under five years of age will be vaccinated against with the poliovirus, along with a supplementary dose of Vitamin-A capsule during the nationwide campaign.

According to a statement issued on Friday, the third nationwide polio campaign for 2021 will kick off in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on September 17 and on September 20, for the rest of the country.

More than 290,000 Sehat Tahafuz frontline workers will go house to house for vaccination to protect children from lifelong paralysis caused by the poliovirus.

Research shows approximately 50% of all children are vitamin-A deficient in Pakistan, so a supplementary dose of Vitamin A will be included providing protection against various infections and diseases like diarrhea, pneumonia, measles, and night blindness.

Addressing the Polio immunization drive’s launching ceremony, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Health Services, Dr Faisal Sultan said, “The programme has made significant gains with not a single case being reported for seven months.”

“Now is the time to re-double our efforts and ensure to each every eligible child with the polio vaccine to solidify this progress. Parents should open their door to frontline workers and vaccinate their children to make way for a polio-free Pakistan,” he added.

He said, “As an indication of how high a priority polio eradication is, the Prime Minister recently met with the District Commissioners of 21 highest risk Districts and directed them to personally double their efforts to eradicate polio, and we expect to see the results of that meeting in this upcoming campaign.”

He said Pakistan remains one of only two countries in the world with circulating wild polio virus, together with Afghanistan. Wild polio virus has been eradicated in all other countries, attesting to the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.