ISLAMABAD: The UAE-Pakistan Assistance Programme (UAE PAP) has vaccinated over 12 million Pakistan children between August 17-26 in a nationwide anti-polio campaign, the UAE embassy said on Monday.
The program is part of the Initiative of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan for Global Polio Eradication.
“Pakistan Assistance Program announces successful completion of second UAE exceptional vaccination campaign against polio, by vaccinating more than 12 million and 788 thousand Pakistani children during the period from 17th to 26th August 2020,” the UAE embassy said in a tweet.
Pakistan’s anti-polio drive was halted in March due to the coronavirus outbreak and was resumed in July after the country recorded a steady decline in infection numbers.
During a country-wide immunization campaign last month, Pakistan’s Polio Eradication Program said more than 32 million children under the age of five had been vaccinated in 130 districts.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world now where polio is still endemic. Since January, Pakistan has reported about 70 new polio cases in various parts of the country.
UNICEF warned in April that disruptions in vaccination drives could create pathways to disastrous outbreaks in 2020 and beyond.
While the COVID-19 poses the greatest threat this year, vaccination drives in Pakistan have previously faced numerous challenges.
Last year, religious hard-liners in the northwestern city of Peshawar spread rumours of children falling sick due to the vaccine, triggering backlash in the conservative northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where most of Pakistan’s polio cases have been detected.
Mobs burned a village health centre, blocked a highway and pelted cars with stones. Medical workers were harassed and threatened.
A woman vaccinator and two policemen escorting the polio team were also shot dead in separate incidents last year.
