Punjab plans largest-ever catch-up vaccination drive

LAHORE:Punjab Health Services Director General Dr Ilyas Gondal said on Sunday that Punjab was about to embark upon its largest ever catch-up vaccination drive and all children upto five years of age, who have missed their routine immunisation doses due to various reasons, will be provided routine vaccination.

Speaking at the quarterly review meeting of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) organised with WHO support, the DG Health said that the EPI programme provides vaccination for 12 diseases to children from birth to two years.

This WHO supported drive, named as ‘Big Catch Up’ aims at vaccination of all children especially those above two years and will ensure their vaccination beyond the routine stipulated age.

“We have millions of children in the two to five years cohorts who have missed their routine immunisation doses due to various reasons. We are grateful to the WHO for providing resources and support for the activity. It is time to vaccinate them for a disease free Pakistan,” he added.

Director EPI Punjab Dr Mukhtar Ahmed chaired the review meeting, organised on directions from Minister Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department Khawaja Imran Nazir, which was attended by District Health Officers - Preventive Services (DHO-PS), District Surveillance Coordinators (DSCs) and District Superintendent Vaccination (DSV)/ EPI Focal Persons from all the 36 districts. Representatives of EPI Punjab, UNICEF, BMGF and University Public Health internees also attended the session.

WHO’s technical team provided support in the review and data analysis on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Director EPI Punjab Dr Mukhtar Ahmed said that a large chunk of missed children was reported from five mega urban districts (Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Multan). He said the Chief Minister’s Clinic on Wheels initiative was reaching out to communities in urban slums and underprivileged areas and vaccination was being ensured for all. He said that despite a significant decrease in measles cases, Lahore and Rawalpindi were conducting case response in high risk union councils. Dr Muhtar Ahmed said that the Big Catch-Up (BCU) was a global initiative launched to close immunisation gaps caused by the backsliding of immunisation coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic, restore global immunisation levels, and strengthen immunisation systems so that catch-up activities become an integral part of immunisation programmes.

WHO Technical Officer Dr Imran Qureshi facilitated technical sessions on the challenges and away forward based on analysis of existing data.