Polio vaccination drive begins across Pakistan

Polio campaign commenced across the country with an aim to administer anti-polio and vitamin A drops to more than 40 million children up to the age of five years, it was reported on Monday.

The government has taken measures for providing training to polio workers and ensuring their safety during the drive. Workers have been asked to follow COVID-19-related SOPs during the campaign.

The government has urged the parents of the children to cooperate with polio teams for administering the vaccine.

The anti-polio drive is already underway in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. An official said that the province had made good progress with zero polio cases reported, adding that sustainability of the current laurels will need a lot of effort and dedication from the team.

No polio case detected in Pakistan over last seven months: SAPM Dr Sultan

On September 17, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on National Health Services Dr Faisal Sultan announced that no polio case had been detected in the country over the last seven months.

He said it is an important milestone that will be taken forward. Sultan maintained that the government's future campaigns will focus on high-risk areas in order to completely eradicate the disease from the country.

The SAPM mentioned that polio drops are completely safe, urging the parents to administer polio drops to their children.

Over 6.2m kids to be vaccinated against polio in KP

Earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed hope that Pakistan would soon become a polio-free country as only one case of the disease was reported in the country during the current year.

He expressed satisfaction over the sharp decline in new polio cases. Congratulating the provincial governments and the partners for the polio eradication campaign, he said the surfacing of a single case across the country this year was a great success.