CS Kicks Off Anti-polio Drive To Immunize Over 6.41m Kids

Sumaira FH Published September 18, 2020 | 03:14 PM

Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Dr Kazim Niaz has reiterated strong government's commitment for polio eradication and said protection of children from the crippling disease remained the topmost priority of the government

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Sep, 2020 ) :Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Dr Kazim Niaz has reiterated strong government's commitment for polio eradication and said protection of children from the crippling disease remained the topmost priority of the government.

He expressed these views while inaugurating three days anti polio drive here at Police Services Hospital on Friday.

Additional Secretary Health (Polio) & Coordinator EOC Abdul Basit, DG Health, Dr Niaz Muhammad, Deputy Commissioner Peshawar, Ali Asghar, Director EPI, Dr Saleem, representatives of health department, WHO, UNICEF, N Stops and BMGF were also present on the occasion.

Talking to media persons on the occasion, Dr Kazim Niaz said that a good turnaround has been made in the fight against polio despite challenges as we had 53 wild polio cases last year whereas we now have 22 cases in the province.

He paid rich tributes to the frontline workers for waging a war against polio and for visiting house to house to vaccinate and protect our children from lifelong paralysis.

Coordinator EOC Abdul Basit, while briefing the media, said that a total of 6.41 million children will be administered polio drops in the campaign.

A total of 28528 total teams have been constituted out of which 25410 are mobile teams, 1091 transit teams, 163 roaming teams while vaccination will also be carried out on 1864 fixed sites, he added.

He informed that some necessary adjustments have been introduced in operational strategies with the objective to further minimize the risk of spread of coronavirus that include provision of masks and hand sanitizers.

Teams have also been advised to avoid touching children during vaccination, rather parent or caregivers shall hold the child, he said.