Injectable polio vaccine campaign from February 13

The Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) for polio, Sindh will launch the first phase of injectable polio vaccine (IPV) campaign in selected areas from February 13 and will continue till February 21, 2017. The campaign will be conducted in 136 union councils of Karachi as well as Thatta, Badin, Sujawal and Tando Muhammad Khan.
This measure is being taken to protect children from the polio virus and is a special intervention in addition to the oral polio vaccine campaigns, which are critical to interrupt virus circulation in the country. A total of 20 cases were reported in Pakistan in 2016, out of which two cases each were reported from Sujawal and Badin in the last 4 months of 2016, prompting the authorities to take extra measures to keep children in these areas safe from polio.
Fayaz Jatoi, the head of EOC in Sindh, said, "There are two major factors for launching the IPV campaign in these particular areas - malnutrition and low routine immunization". He said that sometimes children are malnourished and have low immunity hence it is important to give them an extra boost to secure their futures and save them from polio.
The injectable polio campaign has a target of 357,629 children from the age of 4 to 23 months in Karachi while 260,285 children will be given IPV in Thatta, Badin, Sajawal and Tando Mohammad Khan. In addition to IPV, 465,801 children up to 2 years of age will be given the oral polio vaccine in Karachi and 320,581 children will receive the oral polio vaccine in Thatta, Badin, Sajawal and Tando Mohammad Khan.
The coordinator of the emergency operation center in Sindh, Fayaz Jatoi informed that IPV (the polio injection) is an extra intervention to boost children's immunity but does not replace OPV/polio drops and parents must cooperate and continue to give their children polio drops despite the injections being given.
He said that IPV given alone does not induce the same level of intestinal immunity as OPV. Thus, while individuals vaccinated with IPV alone are protected against paralysis, they can excrete the virus and allow it to continue to spread, meaning it is essential that parents and caregivers immunize their children with OPV every time it is offered, until polio is eradicated in Pakistan.