The National Coordinator for Pakistan’s Polio Programme, Dr Shahzad Baig said the government is determined to make the country polio-free very soon through effective vaccination to every child throughout the country. Talking to a private news channel, he said that the polio eradication campaign is a part of the efforts of the government towards complete eradication of the polio. He requested all parents to allow polio teams to administer polio drops to their children, adding that we are confident that we together with our people and international partners will achieve our target goals of making a safer, healthier and polio-free Pakistan for our children. He said that polio has no cure, only the vaccine can provide lifelong protection. “I urge parents and caregivers to realize how important this vaccine is for their children’s health and make sure that they open their doors to vaccinators and get children immunized”, he added. Pakistan has made incredible progress against polio, and we are working hard every day to make the country polio-free, he mentioned. “Polio eradication is and will remain a top priority for the Government of Pakistan,” he said. The Health Ministry has conducted the second nationwide polio vaccination of the year to vaccinate more than 45.8 million children under five across the nation to protect them from paralytic polio, adding, which will successfully continue until March 9. Polio workers are visiting door to door to administer anti-polio drops to children below the age of five, he added. Replying to a question, he said that 99% we overcome the burden of Polio disease in the country with continuous polio drives. He said more than four lakh polio teams working in the field, adding that Dera Ismail and Banu, Quetta, Chaman and Peshawar are the main risky areas where environmental samples were being identified. He said that at the same time, Afghanistan and Pakistan had initiated this present polio drive to eliminate the virus, adding that citizens asked to cooperate with polio teams. 93% target achieved In the first three days of the national anti-polio campaign,93% of the set target has been achieved as 739,832 children were vaccinated against polio,while the remaining 59,784 children will be covered by March 1. This was stated by Deputy Commissioner Sialkot Muhammad Zulqarnain while reviewing the performance of the anti-polio campaign here on Thursday. In the meeting, Assistant Commissioner (AC) Sialkot Ghulam Sarwar, CEO Health Dr. Rehan Azhar, World Health Organization representative Dr Yasir, UNICEF representative Dr. Faryal Syed, Deputy DHO Shiraz Masood, Dr. Shahzad Iqbal were present,while Assistant Commissioners (ACs) and Deputy DHOs of Daska, Sambrial and Pasrur participated through video link. Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Zulqarnain said that it would be ensured that not a single child of Sialkot district was deprived of polio vaccinations by March 1. He appealed to the parents to inform the district polio control room on phone number 925011 in the areas where the polio teams had not reached so far and the team would be sent immediately. Khyber District The Khyber district administration has completed all preparations for a seven-day polio eradication campaign starting from March 3. During the campaign, more than 200,000 children under the age of five will be administered polio drops by 945 polio teams. A meeting of the district committee for the polio eradication campaign was held under the chairmanship of Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Muhammad Hameed in the Deputy Commissioner’s Office. Officials from the health department, Deputy Superintendent of Police Hukumat Afridi, the education department, international health organisation, polio, police, and other authorities attended the meeting. In the meeting, polio authorities provided detailed briefings on the comprehensive report of the campaign, security arrangements for polio teams, awareness activities, reluctant parents, and other related matters. The district administration appeals to the public to cooperate with the health department teams during the polio eradication campaign and ensure that their children receive polio drops so that they can be protected from lifelong disability, and complete eradication of polio from the Khyber district becomes possible.