Polio vaccination drive ongoing in Balochistan on third day

QUETTA: A polio vaccination drive has been ongoing in 34 districts of Balochistan on the third day (today), ARY News reported.

“During the drive, as many as 2.5 million children, up to five years of age, would be administered anti-polio drops,” an official at Emergency Operation Centre Balochistan has said.

In the ongoing special anti-polio drive 11,383 teams have been involved to administer drops to the children across the province during the door to door effort to save them from the crippling disease of polio. In the campaign 9470 mobile teams, 949 fixed sites and 592 transit points are included, according to the official.

The Levies, police, Balochistan Constabulary and other law enforcement agencies’ 19,200 officials have been deployed for the security of the anti-polio teams.

The authorities have set up fixed transit points at the Pak-Afghan and Pak-Iran border crossings to administer polio vaccine to the people of all age groups, according to sources.

“The children will also be administered Vitamin A drops during the anti-polio campaign,” sources added.

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

Pakistan is one of the two polio-endemic countries in the world along with Afghanistan.

In 2020, 83 polio cases were reported across the country, including 24 from Balochistan, 22 each from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, and 14 in Punjab.