Anti-polio drive targeting 12.6m children begins today

A massive nationwide anti-polio drive, targeting over 12.6 million children, under the age of five years, will kick off on Monday (today).

The second Sub-National Immunisation Days (SNIDs) campaign of the year 2022 will be held in all four provinces, covering 25 very high-risk districts across the country.

Over 100,000 trained and dedicated ‘Sehat Muhafiz’ will be engaged in the vaccination drive to inoculate the targeted children at their doorstep.

National Coordinator of the Polio Eradication Programme Dr Shahzad Baig has emphasised that the anti-polio campaign required deep attention and utmost responsibility to completely eradicate the poliovirus from the country.

“Our aim is to ensure timely and repeated vaccination of eligible children. High-risk districts are our top priority, and we are keen to eliminate the poliovirus from the challenging areas while protecting the rest of the region as well,” he said.

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“I particularly urge all parents and caregivers to get their children vaccinated instead of hiding them or refusing to take the necessary drops during all vaccination drives. It is important to realise that the polio virus still exists in our surroundings and no child is safe until all children are truly vaccinated,” he added.

Sehat Tahafuz Helpline 1166 and 24/7 WhatsApp Helpline 0346-777-65-46 will be available to assist parents and caregivers in reporting missed children and providing related information.

The repeated polio vaccination campaigns are imperative for building immunity among children and preventing possible death or lifelong paralysis.

The programme is capitalising on the momentum gained last year and continues to strive for zero-polio. Parents must continue to vaccinate their children during every immunisation round until they reach the age of five.

The disease reared its ugly head earlier this year after a lull of 15 months. All children confirmed with wild polio belonged to North Waziristan, where more cases are expected due to high refusal rates and instances of finger-marking without vaccination during campaigns.

Wild poliovirus types 2 and 3 have been eradicated globally, while WPV1 cases are at a historic low. Two other WPV1 cases have been reported this year, one each in Afghanistan and Malawi.

Pakistan remains one of only two countries in the world with circulating wild poliovirus, together with Afghanistan. Polio is a highly infectious virus and until this last remaining epidemiological bloc wipes out polio, children all over the world remain at risk of life-long paralysis or fatality by the poliovirus.