10m children to be vaccinated against polio in drive starting Monday

Over 10 million children across the province will be immunised during seven-day anti-polio drive starting on November 27.

Arrangements for the anti-polio campaign were discussed on Thursday in a meeting of the Provincial Task Force on Polio Eradication chaired by Sindh Chief Secretary Dr Muhammad Fakhre Alam. The meeting was informed that more than 80,000 polio workers in the 30 districts would participate in this vaccination drive.

The meeting was attended by Karachi Commissioner Muhammad Saleem Rajput, Additional IG Karachi Khadim Hussain Rind, Coordinator Emergency Operations Center Sindh Arshad Ali Sodhar and other relevant officials of the National Emergency Operations Centre. All commissioners and deputy commissioners of the province also participated in the meeting via video link.

The meeting discussed the overall status of the poliovirus and strategies for its containment. Sodhar briefed the meeting about two polio cases reported in Karachi. He mentioned that the workforce training and security plans for the upcoming polio campaign had been finalised.

The chief secretary stressed the need for launching the campaign effectively in the high-risk union councils to achieve the desired results. He instructed all deputy commissioners to closely monitor the campaign and ensure that their respective officers submitted daily reports.

He also directed the health department to ensure that children were administered polio drops at all railway stations and bus terminals. He also instructed the education department officials to ensure that polio drops were administered to children in both private and government schools during the campaign. He also appreciated the cooperation of local government representatives during the polio campaign.

The upcoming campaign targetsmore than 10 million children will be administered polio drops, with over 80,000 polio workers and supervisors participating.