5.7 million Children to be vaccinated against polio: EOC

F.P. Report

PESHAWAR: As many as 5.712 million children below the age of five years will be given oral polio vaccine (OPV) in the upcoming anti-polio drive whereas children between the age group of six to 59 weeks will be given vitamin A drops to boost their immunity.

This was disclosed in a meeting held at Emergency Operations Center Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (EOC) to review the readiness status of the upcoming NID starting from November 20, 2017 in all districts of the province.

Coordinator EOC Atif Rehman presided over the meeting while Director EPI Dr Akram Shah, Technical Focal Person for BMGF Dr Imtiaz Ali Shah, UNICEF Team Leader Dr Joahar, Team Leader WHO Dr Abdi and other relevant staff were also present on the occasion.

The meeting was informed that a total of 5.7122 million children would be administered anti-polio vaccine in the upcoming campaign whereas six weeks to 59 weeks old children would also be administered Vitamin A drops.

The campaign will also be carried out in the Afghan camps.

All the micro-plans have been updated and teams have been trained to vaccinate the target children and security plan has been made to ensure safe and conducive environment to the teams.

A total of 18428 teams have been constituted for the campaign out of which 15719 were mobile teams, 1545 fixed, 930 transit while 235 were roaming teams and 4088 area in-charges would be monitoring the teams.

Speaking on the occasion, EOC Coordinator said that it was the second NID of the low transmission season and was of great importance as low transmission season was the best opportunity to stop virus transmission and wipe out the menace for good.

He reiterated the strong resolve of the government for polio eradication saying that no complacency or negligence will be tolerated in achieving this national goal.

Atif Rehman asked the parents to fulfill their national and religious obligation by vaccinating their children against polio and other vaccine preventable diseases and help ensure healthy future to the children.

He also thanked Secretary Health KP Abid Majeed, Department of Health Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, partner organizations for their strong support and guidance that helped achieve the phenomenal successes in the fight against polio.

It is pertinent to mention here the country has recorded five polio cases so far in 2017 out of which one case each has been recorded from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Balochistan, Gilgit Baltistan and Karachi.