Polio drive: Vaccines may not be enough for 0.8m children

PESHAWAR:

Fearing shortages, Peshawar DCO Javed Marwat has ordered that more polio vaccines be supplied within the next 48 hours in preparation for the anti-polio drive in the district.

Health department officials and Union Council Polio Eradication Committee (UPEC) members met on Friday where Marwat asked the deputy director of the Expanded Polio Immunisation (EPI) Programme, Dr Janbaz Afridi, to make sure any shortages were taken care of.

The anti-polio drive was scheduled to kick off in Peshawar on November 19, but may begin earlier as Muharram processions are expected during the dates. It is expected that over 800,000 children below the age of five will be administered the drops.

Peshawar, Charsadda, Mardan and Nowshera are the four districts at risk from polio.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2012.