KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah while inaugurating the anti-measles and rubella campaign said on Monday that 19 million children, aged between nine months and 15 years, would be vaccinated and simultaneously 8.2 million children under five years would be given polio drops across the province.

The inauguration ceremony was organised at the NJV (Narayan Jaganath Vaidiya) Government Higher Secondary School, which is the first and oldest public educational institute in the province founded in 1855 by educationist Sir Bartle Frere.

The programme was attended by among others Parliamentary Secretary on Health Qasim Siraj Soomro, Health Secretary Zulfiqar Shah and project director of Expanded Programme on Immunisation Dr Irshad Memon.

The CM said that it was the provincial government’s prime responsibility to safeguard children and adult population of the province from deadly and communicable diseases.

Says 8.2m children under five will also be given polio drops

“The health department through its EPI programme has played a vital role in improving immunisation services to prevent significant outbreaks,” he said and added the nationwide Measles Rubella Catch-Up Campaign had started and would continue till Nov 27.

Mr Shah said that 19m children across Sindh aged nine months to 15 years would be vaccinated against measles and rubella and 8.2m children under five years would also be given polio drops during the ongoing drive.

Mr Shah said that the health department with the support of the education department would cover more than 6.5m children in approximately 71,856 both public and private sector schools.

He announced that the remaining eligible children would be covered through fixed, outreach and special mobile teams.

The chief minister requested the parents to cooperate with government / health teams to vaccinate their eligible children against measles and rubella.

“The Sindh government’s efforts have resulted in zero cases of polio since more than one year and our environmental samples have also come negative for the first time,” he said and added this was a big achievement.

He lauded the support from communities and media to purge the province from the crippling disease.

He urged parents to get their children vaccinated as “EPI programme is offering free-of-cost immunisation against 12 deadly diseases, and it should be our responsibility to protect our future generations”.

Earlier, the chief minister inaugurated the drive by witnessing the vaccination process and administered polio drops to the children.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2021