Nine-day anti-polio drive begins

The campaign will administer polio injection as well as polio drops

KARACHI: An anti-polio vaccination campaign was launched on Monday by Health Minister Azra Pechuho. The campaign will cover 10 towns and 106 union councils.

During the drive, 1,483,602 children between the ages of four months and five years will be administered polio injections, inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), while 1,529, 487 children will be given polio drops, oral polio vaccine (OPV). Around 2,000 centres have been established across the province for this purpose.

According to the health department, it has been decided to give polio injections as well as drops to ensure the complete eradication of the virus. Moreover, giving polio drops through syringes has increased benefits for children they said, adding that IPVs also reduce wastage.

Polio has to be eradicated from Pakistan, Pechuho said. She added that as yet four polio cases had been reported in the country and while no case had been recorded in Sindh, reports show the presence of the virus in the province, especially in Sukkur and Larkana.

Pechuho requested the parents to get their children vaccinated. She said that polio still exists in Afghanistan and Pakistan and added that after the eradication of polio, the country needs to rid itself of measles typhoid.



Referring to the recent protest by doctors, she said that the government was accepting the demands of doctors, but added that everything requires time. She said that a summary had already been sent to the Chief Minister in this regard which he will present before the cabinet. She said that a strike in the medical field was not suitable.

Health Central District Officer Ali Najam said that 280 teams were taking part in the Central district polio campaign.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 19^th, 2019.