‘Eradicating polio is a collective duty’

The aim of the drive is to vaccinate nine million children of the age of five years

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah administered oral polio vaccine to a six month child on Monday at Jannat Gul Hospital in Union Council IV, Gadap Town, one of the worst affected areas of the city in terms of poliovirus.

The CM inaugurated the polio vaccination campaign, which will continue till December 22 with the aim to vaccinate nine million children of the age of five years, including 2.3 million from Karachi only.

Keeping in view the severity of the situation, with 16 registered cases of polio in the province since the beginning of 2019 and rising incidence of refusals on the part of parents, the Sindh Government has adopted a series of steps to make the drive effective.

In this context, instead of any formal inauguration ceremony, the provincial government ensured the presence of ministers in different remote areas to create a much-needed sense of ownership among the masses.

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"I am here to assure that the polio vaccine is absolutely safe and must tell you that my own children were also administered the same [vaccine] over the years," he said.

Shah added that eradicating polio is a collective responsibility and urged parents to cooperate with the polio workers and ensure that their children are vaccinated against the virus.

He added that his efforts for fighting polio had borne fruit and only two polio cases were registered in 2018, while the emergence of 16 cases this year so far is alarming for the authorities. "These new cases have emerged because of the migration from Afghanistan, Peshawar and Balochistan," he said, "I will not make it an excuse as every child coming to Sindh is our child and we have to take care of them."

CM Shah said that he had held a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan a year ago regarding polio eradication and he had urged him to hold more such meetings in the future.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2019.