Polio vaccination drive starts today

LAHORE:The Sub-National Immunisation Days (SNIDs) polio eradication campaign will start today (Monday) to vaccinate over five million under the age of five-year children.

The campaign will be held in seven districts of Punjab, including Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, DG Khan, Bahawalpur, Mianwali and Layyah.

In Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad, the campaign will continue for seven days, from June 27 to July 3, with two days dedicated to reaching “not available” children. While in DG Khan, Layyah, Bahawalpur and Mianwali, the campaign will be held in selected union councils for five days, also with two days dedicated to reaching “not available” children.

The SNIDs will see the participation of some 39,000 polio workers. This includes 3,104 area in-charges, 923 union council supervisors, 15,950 mobile team members, 1,225 fixed team members and over 647 transit team members.

Punjab Emergency Operations Center (EOC) has deployed experts from all areas to facilitate preparedness and implementation of polio campaign in priority areas. “Punjab has been free of polio cases since October 2020 while environmental samples have tested negative for Wild Polio Virus since May 2021. Nevertheless, this success will remain fragile unless and until polio is completely eradicated from both Pakistan and Afghanistan”, said the head of the polio programme Ms Syedah Ramallah Ali.