Anti-polio teams vaccinated over 16.3m children in Punjab

Over 16.3 million children in Punjab have been administered anti-polio drops as part of a nationwide campaign in the last four days, ARY News reported.

According to information provided by Adeel Tasawar, the incharge of the anti-polio initiative in Punjab, 1.193 million children in Lahore have received the drops.

Similarly, in Rawalpindi, 577,000 children were vaccinated against polio.

In Multan, 751,000 children received the polio drops.

Faisalabad saw 867,000 children vaccinated during this campaign.

Adeel Tasawar mentioned that today marks the final day for catch-up vaccinations in 33 districts.

He further urged parents to assist in ensuring their children receive the anti-polio drops.

Also read: Pakistan reports another polio case, tally reaches 64

Additionally, he instructed the polio teams to prioritize administering drops to children residing near thoroughfares.

Anti-polio drive 

Earlier, PM Shehbaz Sharif launched the anti-polio drive by administering polio drops to children under five years of age, emphasizing the government’s commitment to completely eradicate polio virus from Pakistan.

During the inauguration, the prime minister highlighted the growing concern of rising polio cases, with around 60 new reported cases, but assured that with the combined efforts of the federal and provincial governments, the country would overcome this challenge.

Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister Shehbaz expressed his gratitude to the international partners who had supported Pakistan in the fight against polio, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the government of Saudi Arabia.

Symptoms and risk

Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. It invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours.

The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (for example, contaminated water or food) and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness of the neck and pain in the limbs.