Punjab to restart anti-polio drive next month

LAHORE: The Punjab government has decided to restart polio vaccination campaigns across the province despite the Covid-19 outbreak, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

As per details, the provincial government has started preparations to launch anti-polio drive in Punjab in the second week of July.

In this connection, the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the anti-polio campaign has been finalised, while polio campaign workers will be given training before the start of an anti-polio drive.

On the occasion, the Punjab government’s primary and secondary healthcare department secretary, Capt (r) Muhammad Usman has said that polio campaign was halted due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Earlier on June 11, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Microsoft Founder and Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Bill Gates discussed the anti-polio drive in Pakistan during a telephonic conversation, Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations (DG-ISPR) said.

General Bajwa and Bill Gates exchanged views on the anti-polio vaccination campaign in Pakistan.

Bill Gates said that the armed forces of Pakistan were playing an effective role in the security and monitoring of the anti-polio drive.

Read More: Three more polio cases emerge in Balochistan

COAS Bajwa said that it was the national responsibility of the armed forces and the military troops were playing its role for carrying out healthcare activities. He added that the health workers played a vital role to successfully run the anti-polio campaign which would be resumed within a few weeks.