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Anti-Polio Drive Starts Across Country


ISLAMABAD: A nationwide anti-polio drive has kicked-off, during which children below five years age will be administered anti-polio drops.

The campaign will continue for five-day while this is the first nationwide campaign in the country after its four-month suspension due COVID-19 outbreak.

The scope of this campaign is much larger and seeks to vaccinate all children under the age of five through door-to-door visits by vaccinators all over the country.

The polio eradication programme has put strict measures in place for all staff following the government’s set guidelines on COVID-19 preventative measures.

The campaign’s target is to administer the anti-polio vaccine to some 40 million children below the age of five, with the duration and number of target children varying in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and Punjab.

A spokesperson for the Sindh Health Department said the seven-day anti-polio drive has been launched across Sindh, including Karachi, today, with a target to vaccinate nine million children.

The anti-polio campaign volunteers would go door-to-door to vaccinate children, the spokesperson said, adding that special care would be taken in light of the coronavirus-related SOPs.

Police and other law enforcement agencies were also called in to protect the volunteers, they added.

In Peshawar, the coordinator for the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) for polio eradication in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said a three-day anti-polio drive was launched across the province.

The target, the official added, was to vaccinate 6.54 million children during the campaign, with 28,528 teams of polio workers participating in the campaign.

Coronavirus-related SOPs would be strictly enforced during the campaign, the coordinator said, adding that the field staff were provided with surgical masks, hand sanitisers, thermal guns, and other protective equipment (PPEs).

The anti-polio drive across Balochistan started today in Quetta, according to the EOC for polio eradication in the province, with the campaign aiming to vaccinate 2.5 million children.

More than 10,000 teams were participating in the anti-polio campaign, the EOC noted. In addition, the services of community health workers were enlisted for the success of the drive.