KARACHI: The Egyptian authorities have made it mandatory for travelers from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and other countries to provide a polio vaccination certificate.
“As informed by the Egyptian Authorities, passengers travelling to Egypt from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Malawi, Mozambique and Congo are requested to provide an international certificate of vaccination specifically polio vaccine, OPV or IPV (both are acceptable),” Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said in an advisory on its website on Monday.
It added that foreigners who have stayed more than four weeks in the above-mentioned countries are also required to provide polio vaccination in order to travel to Egypt.
Last month, the International Health Regulations’ (2005) Emergency Committee, responsible for assessing global poliovirus spread, expressed concerns over Pakistan’s efforts to reach a large number of children through its polio eradication campaign.
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In a session convened by the World Health Organisation (WHO) director general on August 16, 2023, the committee highlighted the gaps in Pakistan and Afghanistan’s efforts to eliminate polio.
It emphasised that recent favorable environmental samples from Peshawar and Karachi underscore the persistent risk of a polio outbreak in Pakistan.
The committee highlighted that a new case of WPV1 emerged in Pakistan since the last meeting, bringing the 2023 total to two cases. Both instances occurred in the Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. Throughout the year, at least 15 environmental surveillance-positive samples were identified.
