ISLAMABAD – Amid rising polio cases in the country, Pakistani authorities on Monday launched a week-long anti-polio campaign to inoculate millions of children under five.
The five-day polio immunization drive aimed at vaccinating juniors in 83 districts of four provinces in accordance with World Polio Day.
Children in Punjab will get polio drops in 14 districts including Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Mianwali, Khushab, Sialkot, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Layyah, Multan, Muzaffargarh, Rahim Yar Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur.
Around 6.5 million children under five years of age will be given oral polio vaccine drops in Sindh, and 1.7 million in Balochistan.
The country of nearly 221 million has seen 20 cases in less than 10 months of this year, in a worrisome situation as the country earlier managed to control the spread of the contagious virus.
#WorldPolioDay is here 🗓
Thanks to the unwavering support of our donors, partners, health workers, parents and caregivers, millions of children 👦🏻👧🏻 remain polio-free today.#EndPolio #HealthForAll pic.twitter.com/8q5neB1EtH
— Pak Fights Polio (@PakFightsPolio) October 24, 2022
All minors paralyzed in the country this year belong to the southern part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Meanwhile, World Polio Day, the annual observance highlighting polio, is being observed today across the world to raise awareness of the importance of polio vaccination to protect every child from crippling disease.
Child dies from polio in northwestern Pakistan; cases tally rises to 20
Polio is a highly infectious and debilitating disease that is usually spread through contaminated water or food. Invading the nervous system, the disease can cause total paralysis within hours.
The contagious virus thrived in the borderlands between Pakistan and Afghanistan where militants attacked and even killed anti-polio teams.
