QUETTA: The Injectable Polio Vaccine (IPV) campaign will be launched in three high-risk districts of Balochistan on Monday.

Provincial Coordinator of Polio Programme Dr Syed Saifur Rehman said on Sunday that the IPV programme would be launched in Quetta, Pishin and Qila Abdullah districts where the polio virus was still active.

He said that 150,842 children would be injected with vaccine in the provincial capital, 41,898 in Pishin and 46,450 in Qila Abdullah from April 4 to 12 in the first phase of the campaign.

First phase of the drive to be launched in three high-risk districts of Balochistan

The second phase would start on April 13 and complete on 20 in tehsil Abdullah and Gulistan where more than 44,450 children would be administered the vaccine.

During the programme, children in the age group of 4 to 23 months would be injected with vaccine, Dr Saif said.

Children between zero and 23 months are most vulnerable to polio and more than 85 per cent cases are reported in this age group.

“Around 649 temporary vaccination outreach centres will be set up in Quetta bloc,” he said.

Balochistan’s first polio case of 2016 was reported in Quetta in February when 30-month-old Mohammad Akram was diagnosed with the virus. This case missed the IPV campaign last year.

Dr Saif requested parents to get their children vaccinated at the nearest centre to save them from the crippling virus.

He said security forces had also been engaged to avert any untoward incident during the current campaign.

Personnel of Balochistan Levies and police would accompany polio teams. Frontier Corps would take part in the campaign in border towns, he added.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2016