PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government have decided to deploy over 43,000 security personnel to guard vaccinators during the anti-polio campaign in 29 districts of the province from 28 February.
The officials said that over 6.2 million children under the age of five will be vaccinated against the crippling disease. The Emergency Operations Center of the provincial health department said not a single case of polio has been reported in the province for more than a year but vaccination is important to clear the country from the virus.
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A total of 30,822 teams have been formed including 27,610 mobile vaccinators. There would be 1909 fixed teams, 1,155 transit teams and 148 roaming teams. In some sensitive districts, extra police and other security personnel will be deployed to provide security to polio workers.
Yesterday, the Peshawar Deputy Commissioner Capt (retd) Khalid Mahmood said that the anti-polio campaign will continue till 6 March during which over 0.8 million children will be vaccinated against the crippling diseases in the district. Mahmood said that 2496 teams have been formed and significant security arrangements have been made for the campaign in Peshawar district.
Despite the eradication of the polio virus in the rest of the world, Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where the virus’ threat still looms over the head of children. In the early 1990’s, there were 20,000 cases but due to hectic efforts, now just one case has been reported, last year. The Pakistan Anti-Polio Program, last case of polio in the country was confirmed on January 27, 2021 when polio germs were found in samples taken from a child in Qila Abdullah, Balochistan.
Most of people still doubt the polio vaccines and some militant groups have been attacking polio workers, killing 70 health workers (including women) and several law enforcement officials since 2012.