RAWALPINDI: A week-long anti-polio campaign wrapped up in the garrison city on Sunday, with the health authorities vaccinating over 950,000 children less than five years of age out of the set target of one million.

District Health Authority Chief Executive Officer Dr Asif Arbab Niazi told Dawn that more than 90 per cent children were immunised in the third national polio immunisation drive of the year.

Punjab completed the anti-polio campaign in 33 districts on Friday whereas the drive in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad concluded on Sunday.

Dr Niazi said all children in bus stands, railways stations and entry and exit points of the district were administered anti-polio drops.

He reiterated the pledge to eradicate polio from the district and underlined that genomic sequencing results indicated that virus was linked to Afghanistan and other endemic zones. He said the government was planning to stop transmission of polio virus by June 2025, and reach zero polio by the end of next year.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2024