Polio teams vaccinate 5,000 children at shrines

The teams were deployed at shrines during 10-day Urs Celebrations

LAHORE:

As throngs of devotees continue to visit the shrines of Baba Farid Gunj Shakkar and Hazrat Sultan Bahu, polio teams vaccinated nearly 5000 children within the first four days.

The Punjab Polio Programme deployed 16 polio teams at the shrines, according to a press release issued on Thursday by the Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication.

The teams will ensure the vaccination of all children under five years of age during the 10-day Urs celebrations, which began simultaneously in Pakpattan and Jhang earlier this week.

Based on last year’s estimates, the Punjab Health Department is anticipating the arrival of 33,000 children from Punjab and other provinces for the Urs celebrations.

The polio teams are working in two shifts to ensure that every child is reached and vaccinated.

Punjab was polio-free since October 2020, while no environmental sample tested positive since May 2021. Nevertheless, this success will remain fragile unless and until polio is completely eradicated from both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Punjab Health Department is fully cognizant of the potential impact of polio on the country’s most populous province and remains committed to reaching all children.

In addition to deploying teams at shrines, the Punjab Emergency Operations Centre set up transit points at inter-provincial boundaries, international airports and railway stations. Teams deployed at these points vaccinate children belonging to migratory populations arriving from all parts of the country.

“The deployment of transit teams will ensure that virus does not return to the province or find its way through Punjab to other provinces and affect more children”, said Emergency Operations Centre Coordinator (EOC) and head of the Punjab polio programme Syedah Ramallah Ali.

“Transit points serve as an opportunity to vaccinate the maximum number of children crossing through these sites. The sites play a key role in vaccination of children under five years of age and mitigating the risk of virus transmission in the province,” added the EOC coordinator.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th, 2022.