PHOTO: REUTERS
More than 606,600 children will be administered anti-polio vaccine. Security arrangements for the campaign have been completed. According to Razzaq, approximately 2,467 teams will be on the field with 2,004 mobile groups, 262 fixed sites and 161 transit points.
The campaign will start in Bolan, Harnai, Jaffarabad, Naseerabad, Jhal Magsi, Kalat, Mastung, Sibi and Sohbatpur districts.
Razzaq has assured foolproof security arrangements with the deployment of Balochistan’s Levies force, police and frontier corps personnel.
He said the polio virus is still present in the province and it is feared that it can affect other children as well.
“It is the responsibility of the parents to cooperate with workers in administering anti-polio drops to their children,” Razzaq said.
He added that the support received and steps carried out by the Balochistan government to deal with the crippling virus are satisfactory.
Razzaq stressed that along with parents, the role of civil society and religious clerics is also crucial to eradicate virus and address misconceptions about anti-polio vaccines.
“We have got the support of the representatives of municipal committee as well [in the drive against polio],” he said, also urging media to play its role in making the latest anti-polio campaign a success.
Six new polio cases have surfaced in three provinces, taking the total number of children infected by the virus to 148 in the country.
Earlier, anti-polio campaign was launched in all the 33 districts of the province during which more than 2.4 million children of less than five years of age were administered anti-polio drops. Approximately 8,752 mobile teams, 942 fixed and 605 transit teams were deployed in the whole province to ensure provision of anti-polio drops and vaccines to the children.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 13th, 2020.
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