Pakistan plans special drive to completely eliminate polio

ISLAMABAD: A special immunization drive will be launched in 70 districts of the country to completely eliminate the polio virus, whose cases among children and traces in the sewage have seen a remarkable decline.

According to details shared by the Expanded Program on Immunization, an anti-polio campaign will be launched for sensitive districts.

“The campaign will cover 61 districts completely and nine districts partially, while drops will be administered in eight union councils of five districts having Afghan refugee camps,” the sources privy to the schedule said.

The drive will be launched in two phases with the first phase spanning from January 17 to 21 for six southern districts of KP while the second phase will see the campaign in 64 districts from 24 to 28 January.

“The anti-polio drive will be launched for three days besides also having two catchup days in order to immunize remaining children,” they said.

According to a report in December 2021, Punjab, the biggest province of the country, has not reported a single polio case in 2021.

The details have been shared by the Polio Eradication Program Punjab, highlighting that the environmental samples have indicated the elimination of the crippling disease altogether.

“No polio case has been reported in Punjab this year,” the report said adding that only six percent of samples from Rawalpindi had traces of the disease.

In 2020, the report shared that 71 percent of the samples turned out to be positive for poliovirus. “The samples from Sialkot, Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, and Bahawalpur have turned out to be negative,” the report said.