Last campaign missed 3,000 children

RAWALPINDI: Despite efforts by the district health authorities, it has been suggested that the last anti-polio vaccination drive missed over 3,000 children while all three environmental samples collected from the city have tested positive for the virus. This was revealed in a report prepared by the health department and had been presented in the monthly meeting of the district polio eradication committee at the district commissioner’s office as they deliberated on the upcoming inoculation campaign. The report noted that the main campaign had missed around 11,456 children. A special follow-up campaign managed to reach 8,199 of these missed children. But this meant that as many as 3,257 children could not be administered the polio vaccine. Rawalpindi Headquarters Additional Deputy Commissioner Saima Younas has directed to strengthen the supervising and monitoring of polio vaccinators so that the next campaign can yield better results. She urged the local government representatives and educational institutes to immediately provide the district administration and the health department with a list of all the personnel who will be a part of the upcoming campaign.  

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6^th, 2018.