The anti-polio campaign has begun today in 66 designated districts across the country, with a target of vaccinating more than 16.5 million children during the campaign.
According to details, the polio campaign has also been initiated in Sindh province, including Karachi. During the ongoing campaign until June 9, polio drops will be administered to 4,757,303 children in 16 districts of Sindh.
The polio campaign is underway in 6 districts of Punjab, 14 in Balochistan, and 23 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In Punjab, 6.4 million children will be administered polio drops during the campaign, while in Balochistan, more than 1.884 million children will be vaccinated, and the target in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is to vaccinate more than 3.5 million children.
According to the head of the polio eradication program in Punjab, Khizar Afzal, the summer season is highly conducive for the poliovirus. The virus has been found in environmental samples of Punjab. He emphasized that prevention is only possible through polio vaccination and urged parents not to forget to administer drops to their children in every campaign.
The campaign will continue in Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Faisalabad until Sunday, while in other districts, the campaign will last for 5 days. During the campaign, 6.4 million children will be administered drops, and more than 40,000 polio workers will participate. In Lahore alone, more than 14,000 polio workers are part of the campaign.
It is noteworthy that considering the increasing cases of poliovirus in the country, the government had decided to launch a special anti-polio campaign. This special campaign is the fifth anti-polio campaign of the current year. Four polio cases have been reported this year, and the continuous confirmation of poliovirus in sewage lines is ongoing.
