Pakistan launches nation's first anti-polio drive of 2021

Pakistan on Monday launched the nation's first anti-polio drive of 2021 to eliminate the virus along with its crippling effect on children, a senior official has said. During the five-day long campaign, the government aims to vaccinate nearly 40 million children under the age of five across Pakistan.

As part of the health drive, children aged 6 to 59 months would also be given a supplementary dose of Vitamin A drops, which will help build general immunity among susceptible children to protect them from polio and other diseases.

Around 285,000 polio frontline workers will visit parents and caregivers at their doorstep, adhering to strict COVID-19 precautionary measures and protocols while vaccinating children. These measures will include wearing a mask, using hand sanitizer, and maintaining a safe distance during the vaccination.

"The Government is committed to reach the goal of a polio-free Pakistan which requires full support of the nation, especially from communities and the parents and caregivers of children under the age of 5 years," Faisal Sultan, the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health, said.

He said that the aim was to ensure timely and repeated vaccination of children which was a key to reduce the immunity gap and to protect children against polio and other diseases.

Rana Muhammad Safdar, the Director General of Health and Coordinator of the National Emergency Operations Centre, Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI), said that the frontline workers defied the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and safely implemented the high-quality campaigns.

"In 2021, we are looking forward to sustaining the gains achieved in 2020. Alongside our plans to conduct quality polio campaigns, we are continuing our efforts to enhance essential immunisation coverage across Pakistan. Repeated campaigns are imperative to give a quick immunity boost to children under the age of five," said Safdar.

Pakistan is one of the two polio-endemic countries in the world along with its neighbour Afghanistan. This is the first campaign after the previous in August last year.

Last year 84 polio cases were reported in Pakistan, an improvement as compared to 147 in 2019 but still far above than just 8 in 2017, which brought Pakistan close to eradication of the virus. The anti-polio drive came at a time when Pakistan continues to witness surge in COVID-19 cases.

Till now, Pakistan has reported 504,293 cases of coronavirus infections while the deaths related to the disease has touched 10,676, the Dawn reported.