Polio drive: IPV concludes, catch-up campaign under way

248 high-risk UCs to be covered by trained health teams

PESHAWAR: A seven-day Inactivated Polio Vaccination (IPV) campaign concluded in 22 districts across the province, but a catch-up up drive is still underway. The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government started IPV campaigns to supplement oral polio vaccinations (OPV) in areas considered high risk.

The seven-day polio vaccination campaign was conducted in 248 high risk union councils (UC) across the province, officials said. They added the campaign was not carried out in Peshawar and Bannu since both districts had been covered earlier and that  The officials stated Karak and Manshera were not included as the two districts have no high risk UCs.

The IPV campaign was conducted after detailed training of health teams since qualified and trained staff was required to administer the injections.

A 1,792-strong skilled workforce carried out the campaign for seven days where 417,000 children were administered IPV. A follow-up drive will be carried out to reach children who were not home when the teams visited.

On May 6, health department officials announced IPV campaigns in addition to administering polio drops across the province after recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO). The international health watchdog said those countries only using oral polio vaccination (OPV) should also start administering at least one doze of IPV.

The children who have already been vaccinated against poliovirus via OPV will also receive IPV doses.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2015.