Over 86 million Pakistani children vaccinated against polio under UAE program

ISLAMABAD: More than 86 million Pakistani children under the age of five were vaccinated against polio between 2014 and December 2020 under an UAE-funded assistance program, according to data shared by Emirates News Agency (WAM) on Saturday.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio remains endemic, after Africa was declared polio-free last year. Last year, 84 polio cases were reported across Pakistani provinces.
The UAE Polio Vaccination Campaign is part of the UAE-Pakistan Assistance Program (UAE-PAP) launched by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan in 2011 to support global efforts to protect communities against diseases and epidemics.
The crown prince has donated $247.8 million for the cause, with an emphasis on Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“The campaign’s success underscores the UAE’s leading role in reinforcing the efforts of the international community and the programs of the United Nations agencies that aim to protect communities from diseases, pandemics, crises and disasters,” UAE-PAP director Abdullah Khalifa Al-Ghafli said, as quoted by WAM.
The campaign covered high-risk areas, especially in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where over half of 500 million doses donated by the UAE were administered. Every month, the campaign targets 16 million children across the country as immunization needs to be repeated.
“Children in these areas are in constant need of vaccines throughout the year, due to malnutrition and weak immunity, as well as an environment that acts as an incubator of the disease, which makes the job of the program’s teams even harder, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Al-Ghafli added, as he praised Pakistani health workers who faced “dire field conditions and challenges.”
The highly infectious disease invades the nervous system and can cause paralysis or even death. Children under five are the most vulnerable, but they can be fully protected with vaccines.