KARACHI: An eight-day polio vaccination campaign commenced here on Monday with 6.1 million under five children from 26 districts of Sindh, including 2.3 million from Karachi, to be administered oral polio vaccine (OPV) amidst persistent environmental challenges.
A senior official associated with Emergency Operation Centre for Polio in Sindh (EOC - Sindh), Syed Abid Hussain talking to APP said the exercise to continue till April first was particularly important in view of a recently registered polio positive case in Karachi.
"The message we want to communicate to the parents is that polio virus persists in our environment and thus remains to be a constant threat, however, under five children receiving oral polio drops on repeated basis hold negligible chances of paralysis or disability," he emphasized.
Substantiating his claim, Abid said the girl child from Lyari (Karachi) reporting polio positive only a few days was found not to be inflicted with paralysis that under normal circumstances cripples limb of the polio affected child.
"The girl child having received oral polio vaccine (OPV) on multiple occasions was found not to suffer from paralysis or disability," he said.
The EOC-Sindh official reiterated people must understand that higher the frequency of vaccine administration little are the disability chances of kids and referred to the only polio positive case reported from Sindh last year.
"The boy from Gadap Town, Karachi, also did not suffer from paralysis as had received the oral drops on repeated basis," he said.
Abid in a passionate appeal to the parents urged them not to refuse OPV administration to their under five children as it is a buffer that averts chances of contracting the ailment causing disability.
As for the arrangements for the ongoing Sub National Immunization Days, from April 25 to May 1, he said there were 50,000 front line workers, including team members and area in-charges, participating in the province wide campaign.
In Karachi, there were said to be more than 12,000 community health workers supported by 2,500 plus area in-charges who will go door to door for administration of polio drops to children.
As per practice, the Karachi based workers and volunteers are being provided needed security cover by around 5,000 law enforcement agency personnel.
To a question, he re-emphasized that OPV campaigns that are conducted almost 10 times a year are crucially needed as environmental samples in different parts of the country are showing positive.
Hussain agreed that there was not only a dire need to strengthen routine immunization culture in the country but also to improve water and sanitation arrangements.
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