Anti-polio campaign kicks off across country

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Health has launched a week-long national anti-polio campaign across the country, ARY News reported on Monday.

According to details, children under the age of five years will be administered polio drops during the drive.

In Punjab, 22 million children will be administered anti-polio vaccines during the campaign. Meanwhile, Sindh Health Department said nine million children will receive anti-polio drops in the province.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, about 7.2 million children will be administered anti-polio drops. More than twenty-five thousand teams will take part in the campaign.

Federal Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel appealed to the nation to cooperate in making the country polio-free.

He highlighted that the country had set a target to vaccinate at least 43.3 million children during the immunization campaign, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on August 19 earlier this month.

PM Shehbaz Sharif kicked off the anti-polio drive by administrating drops of polio vaccine to children under five years of age at the Prime Minister’s House.

Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah, Federal Minister for Health Abdul Qadir Patel, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb and representatives of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation attended the ceremony.

The prime minister expressed Pakistan’s commitment to ending polio and emphasised the role of the government leaders, health workers, and parents to ensure that the disease never paralyzed a child jointly.