Polio vaccination drive to begin on 26th
The anti-polio vaccination drive will continue in Punjab from October 26 to 31 to immunise as many as 19.4 million children up to the age of five years.
A meeting was held under the chairmanship of Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid to review the arrangements for the anti-polio campaign on Thursday. The health minister said collective and concerted efforts were needed to eradicate polio from the country.
She said along with the campaign against polio, special attention should be paid to improve Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) coverage.
She further said that exact data on birth registration would have to be collected to know the actual number of zero dose children (term used for children who did not get even a single dose of polio vaccine).
Punjab Chief Secretary Jawad Rafique Malik directed the deputy commissioners to monitor the anti-polio campaign in their districts.
He said new polio cases in the province and the presence of the virus in the environmental samples was a matter of concern. Over poor vaccine coverage in some union councils of Dera Ghazi Khan, he said performance would be reviewed after the upcoming drive and action would be taken against the negligent officials.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 23rd, 2020.