Five-day anti-polio drive inaugurated

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary Kazim Niaz has vowed to eradicate polio from the province, saying he would personally monitor polio campaigns in the high -risk districts to gauge its quality and remove hindrances in stamping out the crippling virus from the region.

He said this while inaugurating the December round of anti-polio drive by administering two drops to the children here Friday at Police Services Hospital. Provincial Coordinator Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) Abdul Basit, Peshawar Division Commissioner Shahab Ali Shah, Deputy Commissioner Ali Asghar, District Health Officer Dr Subhani, Dr Ijaz Shah and communication officers were present.

The chief secretary said upcoming National Immunisation Days starting from December 16 were very important to stop the virus circulation in the environment and strengthen the immunity of children under five against the crippling poliovirus.

He said the provincial government was fully committed to the national cause of polio eradication and was taking every possible measure to address the hiccups in polio eradication.

The official praised the valiant polio workers for braving various challenges for the children and by reaching out to people at their doorsteps in the difficult terrains of the province.

EOC coordinator for KP Abdul Basit said that polio eradication was a national emergency and people from all segments of the society, including all departments, would have to play its due role in it. “Even a single child left unvaccinated might be putting all other children in danger of catching the virus’” he added.

The official said that last NID of the year would start from Monday (Dec 16) across the province wherein 6.752 million children under five would be administered the oral polio vaccine along with Vitamin A to boost the immunity of children against the virus.

Strict security measures have been taken to ensure safety and security of workers and all logistic support has been provided to them to ensure a conducive environment to field workers and the smooth execution of the upcoming campaign, he added.

The EOC coordinator appealed to the parents to pay no attention to anti-polio propaganda and ensure that kids get polio vaccine in every campaign so that they have enough immunity to fight the virus and were protected from permanent disability.

It is noteworthy that a total 22, 925 teams including 19,783 mobile teams, 1,848 fixed teams, 1,098 transit and 196 roaming teams have been constituted for the campaign. Earlier, the KP chief secretary administered polio vaccine to the children to formally inaugurate the five days anti-polio drive in the province.