Anti-polio drive: 4.9m children inoculated in K-P

Officials of K-P Health Department say only one case of polio has been reported so far.

PESHAWAR: As many as 4.9 million children were inoculated against polio in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) during a three-day campaign that ended on March 9. Officials of K-P Health Department told APP on Tuesday that the number of polio cases reported in 2011 remains one. The case was discovered in Shaheen Town in Peshawar in January.

Last year 24 cases of polio were reported across the province, according to the officials.

“The polio immunization campaign in K-P was a success,” said an official of the department. The official said no case has been reported from flood-hit areas this year. A report on the immunization drive will be submitted by independent monitoring teams by the end of the month, the official added. Around 22,000 teams were constituted for the campaign. They paid door-to-door visits to vaccinate children.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2011.