LAHORE: The Punjab government announced on Sunday launch of Reach Every Door (RED) vaccination campaign from Monday (today) in the province.

In order to meet the vaccination target of 81 million by the end of December, the government is launching the largest door-to-door campaign from Oct 25 in all 36 districts of the province.

To make the RED vaccination campaign a success, the health department will be establishing 14,000 new vaccination centres across Punjab along with more than 12,000 mobile teams that will visit every neighborhood and village to socially mobilise the public.

All CEOs, DDHO, and other district administration staff will be working for the success of the RED campaign. The coronavirus has so far claimed more than 12,800 lives in Punjab. All 36 districts of Punjab have different [reported] ratios of vaccinated public and the districts with low vaccination will have a rare opportunity to improve their performance during the RED campaign.

During Covid-19, lockdowns have badly affected education and economic sectors but these can be avoided.

Vaccinating the majority of the public would help build enough herd immunity.

Earlier, Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid appealed to parents to get their children immunised against polio here on Sunday.

In her message at World Polio Day, the health minister said making Pakistan polio-free was her mission.

She said, “All necessary measures are being taken to make Punjab polio free. A clean and safe environment for children is the foremost priority of the government. All stakeholders are striving to achieve the goal of polio eradication.

Role of parents is pivotal and they must get their children vaccinated to safeguard them from polio virus. Parents must cooperate with health workers.

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2021