ISLAMABAD, 01 Oct 2021: The third nationwide Polio vaccination campaign reached more than 40 million under five-year-old children with lifesaving vaccine. Children also received Vitamin “A” capsule during the campaign.

A total of 335,387 frontline Polio workers along with other team members worked in collaboration to ensure vaccination of children, including those living hard to reach areas.

“The programme has made significant gains with not a single case being reported for eight months, giving us a unique opportunity to achieve polio eradication,” said Dr. Shahzad Baig, Coordinator of the National Emergency Operations Centre, Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI). “Thanks to the federal & provincial government leadership, frontline workers including all sections of the society for playing an instrumental role for vaccinating children during the campaign. However, we need to re-double our efforts to ensure that every child is safe from this vaccine-preventable disease,” Dr. Baig added.

The Polio Programme is optimistic about controlling polio despite the complex challenges. Recent epidemiological data indicates the declining trend of polio cases and decreased detection of viruses in sewage samples signifying the programme is on track.

In 2021, the Programme has successfully completed three high quality national campaigns and reaching more than 40 million under-five year old children with lifesaving vaccine in each round. The programme also implemented several Supplementary Immunisation Campaigns.

At the end of September 2021, the polio programme has reported one case of wild polio compared to 78 cases at the same time last year. The proportion of positive environmental samples with wild poliovirus isolates has decreased significantly in the current year.

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Note for the Editor:

Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by poliovirus mainly affecting children under the age of five years. It invades the nervous system and can cause paralysis or even death. While there is no cure for polio, vaccination is the most effective way to protect children from this crippling disease. Each time a child under the age of five is vaccinated, their protection against the virus is increased. Repeated immunisations have protected millions of children from polio, allowing almost all countries in the world to become polio-free.

Pakistan is one of the two polio-endemic countries in the world along with its neighbour Afghanistan.

For more information, visit our website - https://www.endpolio.com.pk

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