Vaccinators on COVID-19 red alert as third polio vaccination drive begins nationwide

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday began its third anti-polio drive to vaccinate nearly 39 million children across the nation, with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Special Assistant on National Health Services saying it was “critical” to ensure that the disease was eradicated from the country soon.
“It is critical for us to reduce the immunity gap and safeguard the children against the crippling disease,” Dr. Faisal Sultan said.
“We are determined to close the immunity gap in children which had unfortunately widened because of a disruption of essential services due to (the) COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.
Dr. Sultan further urged all parents and caregivers to ensure their children were vaccinated during the campaign, which ends on December 4.
At least 285,000 frontline workers will participate in the door-to-door initiative to immunize children below the age of five, the Pakistan Polio Eradication Program (PPEP) said in a statement on Monday.
“(The) frontline workers have been trained in anti-COVID-19 precautionary measures, such as proper use of face masks, regular hand washing, and maintaining a safe social distance during the door-to-door visits,” it said, adding that the campaign “has been planned in synchronization with Afghanistan.”
According to the World Health Organization, Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries in the world where polio is endemic, with Pakistan alone reporting 82 cases this year.
“So far, a total of 82 polio cases have been reported including 24 from Balochistan, 22 each from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, and 14 from Punjab,” the PPEP statement said.
Dr. Rana Muhammad Safdar, Coordinator of the National Emergency Operations Center, Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI), added that while authorities were continuing their efforts to enhance essential anti-polio drives, “back-to-back, planned immunization campaigns are imperative to give quick immunity boost to children under the age of five.”
Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by poliovirus, mainly affecting children under the age of five years. It 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 the disease.