Target achieved: Most of Karachi’s children have been vaccinated, says state minister

Saira Afzal Tarar claims that more than 90 per cent of the city has been covered

KARACHI: Despite security concerns, polio workers have managed to vaccinate almost all the children in Karachi, including those in high-risk areas, said State Minister for National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination Saira Afzal Tarar on Friday.

She was chairing a meeting with Sindh Health Minister Jam Mahtab Hussain Dahar, health secretary Iftikhar Shalwani, commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui and other officials. Speaking to the media during a press conference at the Sindh Secretariat, the federal minister claimed that polio teams had done a great job and reached several areas in a few months.

"The coverage in Karachi has almost been 90 per cent during the recent polio drives," she said. "There were, however, some areas such as Gadap Town and Kambar-Shahdadkot where the polio teams faced some security issues."

The minister announced that the polio campaign will be merged with the routine immunisation after the National Immunisation days were completed.

"There is no lack of coordination among officials who are tasked to ensure maximum coverage," the minister replied. "Security is a major hurdle and it is not possible to provide personnel when they are required." The minister said that in the last couple of months refusal cases had gone down from 1.7 million to just 0.1 million. "It is a good sign and it is all because of team work," she said. Tarar said that her department was working over the third-party evaluation as it could be reconfirmed that how much coverage was carried out by polio teams across the country.

Assuring the complete support by Sindh government, Dahar said that his department was working round-the-clock to achieve the target.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2015.