ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will launch a polio vaccination campaign on March 13 to immunize 21.54 million children under the age of five, the Pakistani health ministry said on Sunday.
The five-day campaign will be held in two phases due to the concurring activities of the seventh national census. In the first phase, over 17.41 million children in 13 districts of Punjab and 16 districts of Sindh and Islamabad will be vaccinated from March 13 till March 17.
The second phase will be held from April 3 till April 7 – during the second week of Ramadan – to vaccinate more than 4.12 million children in 12 districts of Balochistan and 26 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including the seven “endemic districts” in the southern region of the province.
Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel urged parents and caregivers to ensure their children receive the life-saving polio vaccine so that they remain protected from poliovirus, which has been found circulating in environmental samples.
“The presence of wild polio in the environment shows that the virus is circulating in our communities and posing a serious risk to our children,” Patel was quoted as saying by the health ministry.
“With Ramadan and Eid [are] around the corner, population movements can increase the risk of further spread, therefore, it is critical that parents and caregivers vaccinate their children in this and every campaign.”
Polio is a highly infectious disease that is caused by the poliovirus, mainly affecting children under the age of five years. It invades the nervous system, and can cause paralysis or even death.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio continues to threaten the health and well-being of children.
In Pakistan, no human case of polio has been reported since September last year, when a polio outbreak paralyzed 20 children in southern KP districts, according to the health ministry.
Wild poliovirus was detected for the first time this year in sewage samples collected from two separate sites in Lahore in January. Two more samples have since tested positive for polio in DI Khan and Ghotki.
“We have specifically designed this March campaign to reach areas where population movement is not just frequent but also expected during Ramadan and Eid festival,” said Dr. Shahzad Baig, a senior official at the National Emergency Operations Center.
“It is essential that we reach as many children as possible with the vaccine now to curb polio transmission.”
