Islamic Emirate to support polio vaccination

KABUL (Tolo News): The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) welcomed the Islamic Emirate’s decision to support polio vaccination which is planned to restart on November 8 across Afghanistan.
According to UNICEF, the Islamic Emirate pledged to allow female workers on the campaign, and it will provide security for teams who are implementing the program. “UNICEF and the WHO welcomed the Taliban leadership’s decision to support the restart of house-to-house polio vaccination campaigns across Afghanistan. This comes at a critical time and we hope this campaign will reach many children including more than three million children who were previously out of reach of the vaccination program,” said Salam Al Janabi, communication specialist at UNICEF.
It is the first countrywide polio vaccination in three years, and will cover about ten million under-5 aged Afghan children. “The Islamic Emirate allows and fully supports the polio vaccination to be implemented successfully across the country,” said Gula Khan Ayoub, head of public awareness in the Ministry of Public Health.
“Unfortunately, Afghanistan is a country where polio is seen. Polio vaccination is the only way to eradicate polio from Afghanistan,” said Ahmad Jawad Fardeen, a medical doctor. More than three million children in various parts of Afghanistan were out of reach of polio vaccination campaigns in the last year, and a new positive case of polio was reported. Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria are among the countries where polio cases still exist.