ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s fight against polio continues, as another anti-polio drive kick-started with a target to vaccinate at least 23.8 million children.
The sub-national polio drive will be carried out from May 15 to 21 in all districts where children under the age of five will receive polio drops. Thousands of trained polio workers are taking part in the campaign who will go door to door in certain districts.
In the country’s most populated Punjab, over two million children will be vaccinated in 12 districts, including Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Bhakkar, DG Khan, Layyah, Mianwali, Multan, Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur, Rahim Yar Khan, and Sheikhupura.
Screengrab: PakFightsPolio/Twitter
At least 0.7 million children will be getting anti-polio drops in Hyderabad and Larkana district in Sindh. In Balochistan, over 1 million children up to five years of age would be administered anti-polio drops.
Meanwhile, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has postponed the anti-polio campaign till next week in the wake of current law and order situation.
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.
