Week-long special anti-polio vaccination drive underway across Pakistan

A week-long special anti-polio vaccination drive is underway across Pakistan, ARY News reported on Monday.

During the campaign, children up to five years of age will be administered anti-polio vaccine drops.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif launched the campaign at a ceremony in Islamabad for the complete eradication of polio from the country.

He inaugurated the campaign across 115 districts aiming to vaccinate 30 million children against this debilitating disease.

Under the anti-polio drive around 286,000 polio workers will go door-to-door to administer polio drops to children.

Speaking on the occasion, the prime minister expressed hope that the federal government, in collaboration with provincial governments and partners, will succeed in completely eradicating polio from the country.

He urged parents to ensure their children under five receive polio drops to protect them from lifelong disability.

In Punjab, thirteen point nine million children will be vaccinated during week-long campaign in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad districts.

While in other districts including Attock, Chakwal, Multan, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Muzaffargarh, DG Khan, Rajanpur, RY Khan, Okara, Sheikhupura and Gujranwala, children will be vaccinated during five day campaign.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Thirty-five-thousand two hundred and fifty-nine polio teams have been constituted for five-day campaign which will visit door to door to ensure polio drops to each and every child.

In Sindh, the week-long drive will target 9.4 million children under the age of five across 30 districts of province including Hyderabad.

In Balochistan, for a week long anti -polio campaign more than eleven thousand teams have been constituted.