0.6m children to be vaccinated in FATA

Elaborate security arrangements made, army assistance secured.

A total of 621, 681 children in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) will be immunised against polio during a vaccination drive, stated an official handout issued on Monday.

The handout said that a total of 2,235 teams of volunteers would administer polio drops to children across the tribal areas.

The drive will be conducted amid strict security arrangements by 1,964 mobile teams, 206 fixed teams and 65 transit teams, the handout added, quoting Fata Additional Chief Secretary Arbab Muhammad Arif.



“Elaborate security arrangements have been made and the assistance of the Pakistan Army has been secured to ensure that the drive is successful,” Arif said.

Arif also urged the tribesmen to cooperate with polio teams and immunise all children below the age of five against the crippling disease.

This year, 67 cases of polio have been reported from the country so far. A majority of these are from the tribal areas. North Waziristan Agency alone has reported 44 cases out of the total, while five are from South Waziristan Agency and two each from Khyber Agency and Frontier Region Bannu. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has reported nine cases while five have been confirmed from Sindh.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27^th, 2014.