Polio vaccination drive targets 22m children

Over 22 million children under five will be inoculated during a five-day polio drive beginning from February 28.

These views were expressed by Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) Coordinator and polio programme head Syedah Ramallah Ali confirmed on Saturday. “It will be a five-day campaign, including two days allocated to catch up and reach missed children,” she said.

Over 150,000 polio workers will participate in the campaign including area-in-charges, district and union council supervisors and staff in mobile, fixed and transit teams. The provincial EOC has deployed experts from all areas to facilitate implementation of campaign activities by local teams in priority areas.

All frontline polio workers have comprehensive training on COVID-19 SOPs to be followed during household and field visits, as well being fully equipped with PPE.

“Although Punjab has done exceptionally to control polio transmission, reaching and sustaining zero cases and transmission requires even greater efforts. Therefore, the programme will continue to focus on implementing campaigns to reach all children under five-years-old,” Ramallah remarked.

“I want to remind all parents and caregivers that immunization is recognised as one of the world’s most successful and cost-effective health interventions, saving millions of lives around the world.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27^th, 2022.