30.4 mln children vaccinated in first three days of anti-polio drive: sources

ISLAMABAD: Anti-polio drive giving positive results across the country, as National Anti-Polio Programme has achieved 85 per cent of its set target in three days, ARY News reported, citing sources. 

Well-informed sources said that in first three days of the anti-polio drive as many as 30.4 million children have been vaccinated against the crippling disease, out of the set target of 40.16 million.

In Punjab, 1.82 million children under the age of 5 years have been vaccinated by the polio workers. 74,80000 in Sindh, 57,20000 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 15,55,489 children have been vaccinated in Balochistan.

Furthermore, 2,68,139 kids were vaccinated in Islamabad, 2,20,586 in Gilgit Baltistan and 6,34,633 were vaccinated in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The anti-polio drive, which kicked off on September 21 will end tomorrow. It was learnt that the remaining two days of the drive will be catch-up days.

The polio eradication programme has put strict measures in place for all staff following the government’s set guidelines on COVID-19 preventative measures.

Poliovirus is highly infectious. The incubation period is usually 7–10 days but can range from 4–35 days. The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine.

Read more: Here is how Africa kicked out poliovirus

It then invades the nervous system. Up to 90% of those infected experience no or mild symptoms and the disease usually goes unrecognized.

Of the 3 strains of wild poliovirus (type 1, type 2, and type 3), wild poliovirus type 2 was eradicated in 1999 and no case of wild poliovirus type 3 has been found since the last reported case in Nigeria in November 2012.