EPI begins vaccination drive

Twelve-day immunisation campaign to target 103,692 children

PESHAWAR:

The Expanded Programme for Immunisation (EPI) Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has initiated a vaccination campaign on an emergency basis to prevent the outbreak of communicable diseases in flood-hit areas of the province.

The vaccination campaign has been launched for twelve days and would also cover merged districts of the province, a press statement issued on Monday said.

The decision of launching of vaccination campaign had been taken by Director EPI KP Dr Muhammad Arif Khan during an emergency called meeting attended by all the District Health Officers and EPI staff.

Director EPI directed participants of the meeting for launching a 12-day vaccination campaign in which children from newborn to two-year-old will be administered vaccines against different diseases.

Director EPI said there is a serious threat of an outbreak of different diseases which can infect many people, primarily minor children.

During the 12 days campaign, vaccines would be administered to 103,692 children for which duty has been assigned to 3000 vaccinators and more than 200 District Supervisors.

He said due to drinking contaminated water different diseases were being reported in different parts of the province. "People should be advised to give extra care to the hygiene of environment and intake both liquid and solid," he added.

It is pertinent to mention that epidemic diseases have started to spread in flood-stricken districts in K-P.

A report by the Department of Health issued last week said that waterborne diseases have started spreading in the flood-affected districts of the province as the cases of diarrhoea, rash, and chest and respiratory diseases among the residents of the flood-affected areas are on the rise.

In this regard, the health department said that medical camps have been established in the flood-stricken districts where 114,661 cases have been reported so far, while more than 10,000 patients have been treated in the province in the last 24 hours. While 137 medical camps have been established in 13 flood-hit districts.

(With Input from APP)

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6^th, 2022.