World Immunisation Week: Vaccination drive launched across K-P

Officials urge parents to get their children vaccinated

PESHAWAR: To protect children against various infections and diseases, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) health ministry has urged parents to fully participate in the ongoing province-wide immunisation drive against 10 diseases.

The drive is part of World Immunisation Week.

Officials from the health directorate, the United Nations International Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) and the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) stressed upon the need for sensitising the general public on the importance of routine immunisation for children.



They added that once vaccinated, children could be protected against deadly diseases and save thousands of rupees in medical expenditures for parents. They informed that the ratio for routine immunisation was over 71 per cent since more and more people were cooperating. However, they said that the department aims to raise this ratio to over 90 per cent.

K-P Director General Health Dr Ayub Roz stated that immunisation was one of the most powerful and cost-effective health interventions, adding that EPI was providing free vaccines for preventable diseases.



“The government is ensuring supply of vaccines against 10 deadly diseases across K-P and had made tremendous progress in saving the lives of millions of vulnerable children,” he said. World Immunisation Week is observed across the globe from Tuesday, April 24 until Monday, April 30.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 24^th, 2018.