• As robust poliovirus surveillance continues in Pakistan, 49 environmental (sewage) samples collected from 44 districts between February 10 and February 18 were tested at the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health during the past week.
  • The lab confirmed detection of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in sewage samples of Gwadar, Kech, Khuzdar, Killa Saifullah, Nasirabad, Quetta, Usta Muhammad, Lahore, Sargodha, Karachi East, Karachi South, Abbotabad, Bannu and Tank.
  • While the samples from Muzaffarabad, Gilgit, Diamer, Islamabad, Dukki, Mastung, Barkhan, Hub, Lahore, Gujrat, Bahawalpur, Rawalpindi, Sahiwal, Okara, Mianwali, Attock, Jhang, Bahawalnagar, Khanewal, DI Khan, Mansehra, Peshawar, Swat, Nowshera, Batagram, Dir Lower, Charsadda, Mardan and North Waziristan tested negative for poliovirus.
  • The Polio Programme is implementing a rigorous vaccination schedule to protect children from paralytic polio and interrupt virus transmission.
  • A nationwide polio campaign in February reached over 45 million children with the vaccine, while a fIPV-OPV campaign in Quetta Division and Karachi was held between 20 and 28 February vaccinating around 0.9 million children with the injectable and oral polio vaccines for an added immunity boost.
  • This campaign was aligned with the Big Catch-Up also being implemented nationwide by the Expanded Programme on Immunization to immunize missed or under-vaccinated children against 12 preventable childhood diseases. The second phase of the Round-II of fIPV-OPV campaign in Karachi is scheduled to be conducted from 10 – 16 March in 59 UCs.
  • Moreover, a targeted vaccination activity in 104 union councils bordering Afghanistan or having Afghan refugee camps/populations was also held in the last week of February to reduce the risk of cross-border and internal poliovirus transmission, vaccinating over 0.67 million children.
  • The Polio Programme urges all parents to get their children vaccinated against polio at every opportunity to keep them protected from this devastating disease.