QUETTA: A week-long campaign to vaccinate children against poliovirus kicked off in 30 Balochistan districts under tight security, according to officials.

It was part of the nationwide campaign to immunise children.

Balochistan Health Secretary Abdullah Khan inaugurated the campaign by administering polio drops to children at the Emergency Operations Centre along with Balochistan Coordinator Syed Zahid Shah.

The campaign has been launched in response to two cases of the crippling disease reported in Chaman and Dera Bugti after a gap of almost three years.

Earlier on Sunday, Mr Shah, the Emergency Opera­­tion Centre coordinator said during the special inoculation drive, around 2.39 million children under the age of five will be administered vaccination in the province.

Around 10,127 teams of health workers will be deployed across the province, including 8,009 mobile teams, 837 fixed-site teams and 541 at transit points.

He said Balochistan Police, Levies and Frontier Corps would provide full security to the vaccination teams deployed across the province.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2024