PESHAWAR: Officials said on Monday they would begin administering polio vaccines to children at security checkposts in the lawless tribal belt to protect against Taliban attacks.

The announcement was made at a ceremony to mark the launch of a three-day anti-polio campaign in Peshawar, and is aimed at children from North Waziristan and other Taliban strongholds.

Farakh Sair Khan, a senior administrative official for tribal areas, told the gathering the new strategy would “vaccinate children belonging to areas that are not accessible for the polio workers”.

“North Waziristan is affected most by the polio virus and unfortunately we had not been able to vaccinate the children there for security reasons but we are trying to overcome it,” Mr Khan said.

As many as 2,643 polio teams will be participating in the campaign to vaccinate children under five, he added.

“We will establish over 50 vaccination sites next to the checkposts of security forces,” said Shahdab Younis, an official of Unicef said.

“Establishing these sites next to security checkposts will minimise the risk of attacks,” she added.

She said the move would also pressure parents into allowing their children to be vaccinated, due to the presence of troops. “We have received 37 new cases of polio in the first three months of this year, 33 of them are from North Waziristan,” Ms Younis said.

“Polio vaccination was banned in North Waziristan since 2012 and the children there have not been vaccinated against polio since,” she added.

Another official said talks had begun with the army, whose cooperation would be required.

“We are discussing it with the army because most of the security checkposts belong to (them),” the official said.

According to the World Health Organisation, Pakistan recorded 91 cases of polio last year, up from 58 in 2012.—AFP