Anti-polio drive in tribal districts begins

PESHAWAR: A three-day polio vaccination campaign would be undertaken in the erstwhile tribal areas today.

The campaign will continue from August 6 to August 8 and will be followed by a catch-up of missed children, said a press release. About 8,25,144 children below the age of five years will be vaccinated with oral polio vaccine by a total of 3,651 teams. There will be 3,406 mobile teams, 167 fixed teams and 78 transit teams. Coordinator for Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) for the tribal districts, Mahmood Aslam Wazir said that the performance of frontline workers had been exceptional as their hard work has saved children of tribal districts from polio over the last two years.

“Although one of the major milestones has been achieved by the EOC tribal districts team, yet the job is not done. We need to maintain performance with the same zeal and determination with no amount of self-complacency at any level until polio is eradicated from every nook and corner of tribal districts,” he added. The official urged the communities travelling within Pakistan and in the border areas to get their children vaccinated, which is one of the principal determinants in polio eradication.

Technical Focal Person for tribal districts, Dr Nadeem Jan assured that teams would continue to vaccinate every child with an emphasis on polio high-risk mobile population, particularly target population on the move across borders so that every child is immunised.

The tribal districts, known as Fata before the merger with KP in May this year, have completed two years without any polio case in the region. The last polio case was reported on July 27, 2016 from South Waziristan.