Summary The NEOC said that Sunday is the last day of the vaccination campaign.
ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) – The government has vaccinated over 44.5 million children in six days during its ongoing nationwide anti-polio campaign, the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) said on Sunday, urging parents to ensure their children are vaccinated against the infection.
Pakistan kicked off its second anti-polio nationwide vaccination campaign on Apr 13, aiming to vaccinate over 45 million children against the disease. More than 400,000 polio workers are taking part in the door-to-door campaign to vaccinate children in the seven-day drive.
Polio is a highly contagious viral disease that can cause permanent paralysis, mainly affecting children under five. Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are the only two countries where the disease remains endemic.
“Over six days, more than 44.5 million children across the country have been vaccinated so far,” the NEOC said in a statement.
The NEOC said that 22.9 million children have received polio drops in Punjab, over 10.3 million in Sindh, over 7.155 million in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, over 2.582 million in Balochistan, over 441,000 in Islamabad, more than 292,000 children in northern Gilgit-Baltistan and approximately 717,000 children in Azad Kashmir were vaccinated.
The NEOC said that Sunday is the last day of the vaccination campaign.
“Open your doors to polio workers and ensure your children receive polio drops,” the NEOC said.
Pakistan’s polio eradication program launched in 1994, has faced repeated setbacks due to vaccine misinformation and resistance from some religious hard-liners, who claim immunization is a foreign plot to sterilize Muslim children or a cover for Western espionage.
Militant groups have also frequently targeted polio vaccination teams, prompting the government to assign security personnel to protect them, though it has not stopped deadly attacks, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
A police officer was killed and four others were wounded on Monday when gunmen attacked a polio vaccination team in KP on the first day of the campaign.
