Daily Times

The first national polio vaccination campaign is scheduled to begin Monday (today), with the goal of vaccinating an estimated 39.6 million children. The campaign will involve nearly 265,000 polio workers who go door-to-door to inoculate children under the age of five.

“Building on the successful national campaign in December last year, the nation is all set to undertake aggressive measures to push the virus back during 2020 setting the stage to root out polio from the country once for all. We are committed to reach every last child with the essential polio vaccine and I request all segments of society to join hands,” said Dr. Zafar Mirza, the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health. “We have critically reviewed our performance during last campaign and worked with provincial and district teams for an even better preparedness for the upcoming nationwide vaccination effort, ” he added.

In Islamabad 3,56,000 children, Azad Kashmir 6,90,000 children and in Gilgit-Baltistan 2,40,000 children under the age of five years will be administered vaccine.

The program is making all out efforts to ensure a polio-free future and is supported by all segments of the society including medical community, top religious scholars, journalists, celebrities etc. making it a truly national effort. It is important for parents and caregivers to welcome Polio front line workers knocking at their doors and support them in vaccinating children in the neighborhood as well.

Notably, until now, the countrywide tally for the year 2019 has reached 98 as compared to 12 in 2018 and eight in 2017. During the current year so far, 72 cases have been reported from KP, 14 from Sindh, seven from Balochistan and five from Punjab.