Polio drive begins today

LAHORE: With an objective to prevent polio virus transmission in major cities, Punjab is all set to hold the second National Immunisation Days (NIDs) of 2024 from Monday (today) all over the province.

In Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad, the campaign will continue for seven days. While in other districts the campaign will last five days. Over 200,000 polio workers and supervisors will participate in the drive to immunise 22.50 million children under the age of five against polio. This includes: 16,605 area in-charges, 3,991 union council medical officers, over 84,884 mobile polio team members, 4,884 fixed team members and over 2,664 transit team members.

Punjab Emergency Operations Center (EOC) has deployed experts from all areas to facilitate implementation of the polio campaign in priority areas. ‘Multiple doses of polio drops offer the best protection against the virus. Therefore, every single child needs to be vaccinated to achieve population immunity and prevent virus circulation,’ reiterated the Emergency Operations Centre Coordinator and head of the polio programme in Punjab Khizer Afzaal in a statement issued on Sunday.

The coordinator urged parents to welcome polio teams whenever they knock at their doors and highlighted the need to reassure local communities that immunisation was the safest and most effective means of safeguarding children against this virus.

Amid countrywide polio virus circulation, Punjab has not reported any polio case since October 2020. However, three environmental samples, one each from Lahore, Rawalpindi and DG Khan, have tested positive this year so far. Despite the positive samples, overall positivity ratio continues to decline on year-to-year basis, said the EOC coordinator.