ISLAMABAD, Sep 24 (APP):The national polio immunization campaign to vaccinate children under the age of five years continued on Friday in the federal capital and other cities of the country.
According to official sources, the third nationwide polio campaign for the year 2021 already kicked off in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from September 17 while the rest of the country from Monday.
They added, over 40 million children under five years of age will be vaccinated with the polio vaccine, along with a supplementary dose of Vitamin-A capsule during the nationwide campaign.
More than 290,000 Sehat Tahafuz frontline workers are going house to house for vaccination to protect children from lifelong paralysis caused by the poliovirus. Research shows approximately 50% of all children are vitamin-A deficient in Pakistan, so a supplementary dose of Vitamin A will be included providing protection against various infections and diseases like diarrhoea, pneumonia, measles, and night blindness.
On the occasion, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Health Services, Dr Faisal Sultan said, “The programme has made significant gains with not a single case being reported for seven months, giving us a unique opportunity to achieve polio eradication.”
He added, “Now is the time to re-double our efforts and ensure to reach every eligible child with the polio vaccine to solidify this progress. Parents should open their door to frontline workers and vaccinate their children to make way for a polio-free Pakistan.”
He said, “As an indication of how high a priority polio eradication is, the Prime Minister recently met with the District Commissioners of 21 highest risk Districts and directed them to personally double their efforts to eradicate polio, and we expect to see the results of that meeting in this upcoming campaign.”
He said Pakistan remains one of only two countries in the world with circulating wild poliovirus, together with Afghanistan. Wild poliovirus has been eradicated in all other countries, attesting to the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.
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