PESHAWAR: An anti-polio campaign has been launched in 29 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) from Monday [Today} to vaccinated 6.2 million children under the age of five.
According to the details released by the KP Emergency Operations Center, the supply of vaccines in the said districts has been completed and the plan of the campaign has been shared with the polio workers.
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The center said that a total of 62,24,792 children under the age of five will be vaccinated against polio for which 30,822 teams including 27,610 mobile teams, 1,909 fixed teams, 1,155 transit teams and 148 roaming teams have been formulated. In Peshawar, 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. For Peshawar, 2496 teams have been formed and significant security arrangements have been made for the campaign in Peshawar district.
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.
Though the world has eliminated the polio virus but Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where the virus’ threat still looms over children’s heads. In the early 1990’s, there were 20,000 cases but because of hectic efforts, now just one case has been reported, last year. According to 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 in Pakistan still doubt the polio vaccines and some militant groups have been attacking polio workers. As a result of the attacks, over 70 health workers (including women) and several law enforcement officials have been killed in Pakistan since 2012.