Pakistan makes year’s final push to immunise 39m children

Over 39 million children to be vaccinated during campaign across the country

ISLAMABAD:

Adhering to the coronavirus prevention guidelines, over 285,000 anti-polio frontline workers will go door-to-door to vaccinate more than 39 million children countrywide during the five-day nationwide immuisation drive that begins on Monday (today).

“A five-day national immunisation drive will commence from November 30 to vaccinate over 39 million children under five years of age across Pakistan wherein a total of around 285,000 [anti-]polio frontline workers will visit house-to-house, observing strict SOPs for Covid-19, to ensure the protection of children from the crippling poliovirus,” according to an official statement.

Commenting on the vaccination campaign, the government’s point-man on health said the government is committed to making the country polio-free.

“We are determined to close the immunity gap in children that had unfortunately widened because of disruption of essential services due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” Dr Faisal Sultan, the special assistant to the prime minister on health, said on the nationwide anti-polio campaign.

The PM’s aide stressed the need for ensuring timely vaccination of children in order to reduce the immunity gap and protect the children against the epidemic. He urged all parents and caregivers to ensure anti-polio drops to their children during the campaign as well as in routine.

“I am confident, together we will achieve our target of making a safer, healthier and polio-free Pakistan for our children,” Dr Faisal said.

During the campaign, the anti-polio frontline workers will make efforts to reach out to every child with essential polio vaccine while adhering to the standard operating procedures such as wearing a mask, using hand sanitiser, and maintaining at least minimum distance vaccination. It is pertinent to mention that the campaign has been planned in synchronisation with Afghanistan.

“While continuing our efforts to enhance essential immunisation coverage across the country, the back-to-back planned immunisation campaigns are imperative to give quick immunity boost to children under the age of five,” said Dr Rana Muhammad Safdar, the coordinator of the National Emergency Operations Centre of Polio Eradication Initiative.

He called for ensuring that no child is missed during the national immunisation campaign, aimed at building on successful immunity building efforts during the last three months. Dr Safdar urged people to take the drive as a “national mission” and support the frontline workers. Moreover, he said that all segments of society – including communities, media, religious leaders, social activists, celebrities, doctors – should play a role so that no child remains at risk of contracting the polio disease and getting paralysed for life.

Pakistan is one of the two polio-endemic countries in the world along with its neighbour Afghanistan. Islamabad is currently facing a challenging situation in polio eradication with the upsurge of the number of cases. So far in the current year, a total of 82 polio cases have been reported – including 24 from Balochistan, 22 each from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, and 14 from Punjab.