Countrywide Polio Immunization Drive Starts

A countrywide campaign to administer anti-polio drops to 39 million children under age of five years started on Monday throughout the country

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Apr, 2019 ) :A countrywide campaign to administer anti-polio drops to 39 million children under age of five years started on Monday throughout the country.

According to an official of National Emergency Operations Centre for the Polio Program, during this special campaign, 260,000 frontline polio workers will go door to door to ensure children are vaccinated with two drops of vaccine to protect them against the polio virus.

He said that the anti-polio drive will target children in all four provinces, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan against the crippling disease.

The official said that during this vaccination campaign, a total of 20 million children below the age of five years will be administrated polio vaccine in Punjab while nine million children will be vaccinated in Sindh.

Similarly, over 6.8 million children in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 2.4 million children in Balochistan will be administered anti-polio drops.

The official said that Islamabad will be implementing the polio campaign targeting 0.4 million children while 0.7 million children will be vaccinated in AJK. He said that in Peshawar over 1.6 million children of over 10 year of age will be vaccinated.

He said that considering the present risks due to poliovirus circulation, the government has urged parents to ensure immunization of all children during each and every polio campaign.

Coordinator of the National Emergency Operations Centre for the Polio Programme, Dr Rana Muhammad Safdar stressed the importance of civil society, religious scholars and media in promoting the norm of vaccination.

"Parents should cooperate with polio workers and administer their children with anti-polio drops - which will ultimately help save them from a lifetime of disability," he said.

He explained that polio is caused by the poliovirus and the affected children can be paralyzed for life.

He said there is no cure for polio, but prevention through immunization can reduce the chances of contracting the virus. He added multiple vaccinations are critical in safeguarding children from the virus.

Prime Minister's Focal Person on Polio Eradication, Babar Bin Atta said "The country now has one of the best opportunities to stop transmission of the poliovirus." He said "It is high time that we all gear up to collectively fight the virus and provide support to our brave frontline workers so that they can reach and vaccinate every single Pakistani child." He added that, "challenges remain in fully eradicating the virus, however, the Federal and provincial governments stay firmly committed to defeating the virus forever." He expressed the hope that all segments of society will come forward to support the programme during the final push against polio.

He said that Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by poliovirus mainly affecting children under the age of ten years.

He said the disease invades the nervous system, and can cause paralysis or even death. While there is no cure for polio, vaccination is the most effective way to protect children from this crippling disease.

He said that each time a child under the age of five is vaccinated, their protection against the virus is increased. Repeated immunizations have protected millions of children from polio, allowing almost all countries in the world to become polio free, he added.

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