A five-day polio vaccination drive will commence in Rawalpindi District from December 8 with a target to vaccinate 711,744 children under five years of age. A total of 1,696 polio teams would participate in the campaign.
District Health Officer Dr Khalid Randhawa said besides a door-to-door campaign, a total of 250 special centres will be set up. He added that sufficient quantity of vaccine is available and the staff deployed for the campaign has been informed that no negligence in this regard would be tolerated.
The health department has been directed to remain vigilant, particularly in areas where poliovirus was found despite repeated campaigns, said District Programme Coordinator Javaid Iqbal.
Iqbal urged the public to make sure their children are vaccinated and specially asked parents to cooperate with the teams.
Special teams have also been constituted to cover areas from where complaints about unattended children were registered. Pakistan has been termed as a global reservoir of polio and is one of three countries where the crippling disease still exists. A record 262 cases have been recorded in the country so far. Additionally, 60 health workers and their security team members have been killed in the line of duty from December 2012.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 2nd, 2014.
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