LAHORE: Punjab government spokesperson, Shahbaz Gill, on Tuesday affirmed that anti-polio vaccines were completely safe and urged the parents to allow teams to administer vaccines to their children, ARY News reported.
In a statement, Gill said anti-polio campaign was underway in Punjab, adding it would culminate after three days.
As many as 1,97,000 children will be administered anti-polio drops during campaign in the province, he added.
The provincial government spokesperson said 48,000 teams were performing duties on the ground. He termed the attack on the polio team in Lahore a ‘regretting’.
Read: Presence of active polio virus in Pakistan’s 12 cities confirmed
Last week, polio eradication programme had confirmed presence of active polio virus in sewage of 12 big cities of the country.
As per details, P-1 polio virus was found from the sewage of the 12 big cities including, Peshawar, Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Banu, Mardan, Waziristan, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Shahdadkot.
Sources privy to the development said keeping the alarming situation in view, the authorities have decided to extend age from 5 to 10 years for the administration of the anti-polio drops.
It may be noted that the polio virus’s presence in sewage water was confirmed in Karachi, Sukkur, Peshawar, Mardan, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Sukkur and other cities earlier.
According to prime minister’s focal person for polio eradication, Babar Bin Atta, the first case was reported in a four-month-old girl in Hangu, while another case was detected in an eight-month-old boy in Lahore’s Shalimar Town area.
