Epidemic control: Measles vaccination drive extended till 7th

Over 2.5 million children in the city vaccinated so far.

LAHORE: Over 2,500,000 children from six months to 10 years of age have been vaccinated against measles in a special campaign launched from April 29 which has now been extended for two days (till May 7).

EPI Additional Director Dr Nazir Hussain said that during the special anti-measles campaign, the department had set a target of vaccinating three million children in the Lahore district. He said the vaccinators had achieved immunization of two and a half million.

He said the drive had been extended for two days till May 7. He said the drive had been extended to vaccinate the schoolchildren who may have been missed due to a long weekend.

To a question, he said the drive had received good response from the general public. He said vaccination was being carried out by 900 staff at fixed points. The facility is also being provided at all government hospitals in Lahore. Around 5,000 health workers were involved in the drive, he said.



Health EDO Dr Zulfiqar Ali said 600 mobile, 165 school and 265 fixed teams had been assigned the task of vaccination. He said an epidemic control room was also working at his office with phone no 042-99237028.

Over 10,929 cases of measles have been reported in the Punjab during the last five months with an addition of 141 new cases in 24 hours.

According to Health Department officials, at least 64 deaths have been reported so far.

Most of the deaths occurred in Lahore, Gujranwala, Rajanpur, Rahim Yar Khan and Kasur. During the last 24 hours, around 141 cases of measles were reported in the Punjab including 52 in Lahore.

Health Services Punjab Director General Dr Tanveer Ahmed said it had been learnt that the majority of deaths in Lahore were caused by pneumonia and a delay in reaching hospitals.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2013.