ISLAMABAD: A vaccination campaign to immunise more than 24 million children under the age of five against poliovirus will begin today (Monday) across the country.

The campaign will be carried out in Islamabad, 10 districts of Punjab, 24 districts of Sindh, 26 districts of Khyber Pakh­tunkhwa and 30 districts of Balochistan.

Teams of health workers will go house-to-house during the campaign.

PM’s Coordinator on National Health Services Dr Malik Mukhtar Ahmed Bharath said the government was committed to protecting children from this crippling disease.

“Poliovirus has been detected in multiple sewage samples in the country in recent months which means this virus remains a serious threat to children’s wellbeing,” he said.

The the disease has no cure and the only way to protect children is to administer polio drops to them, Dr Bharath added.

Dr Shahzad Baig, the coordinator of National Emergency Ope­ra­tions Center for Polio Eradication, said it was a critical campaign being held in districts with high risk of poliovirus spread.

“We have detected the virus in over 31 districts this year, which is why we are continuing to implement regular vaccination campaigns in all high-risk districts to ensure that children have the immunity to fight off the polio infection,” he said.

Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by poliovirus which mainly affects children under the age of five years.

While there is no cure for polio, vaccination is the only effective way to protect children from this crippling disease.

Repeated immunisation has protected millions of children from polio, allowing almost all countries of the world to become polio-free, except for two countries: Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2024