RAWALPINDI: An anti-polio campaign is being launched in Rawalpindi from February 2 to 5, during which more than one million children across the district will be vaccinated under the age of five.

An important meeting was held under the chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioner, Hassan Waqar Cheema, to ensure the successful conduct of the campaign, make security arrangements and field monitoring more effective.

The meeting was attended by officials from all relevant departments, including the health department, district administration, police, education department, local government, and World Health Organisation (WHO).

The meeting reviewed the polio campaign’s micro plan, team formation, union council-level targets, security plan, duty roster and daily monitoring mechanism in detail.

To make the polio campaign effective, a total of 5,188 teams have been formed across the district, including mobile teams, 4,731 transit teams, 194 fixed teams, and 263 teams for monitoring and field coordination of the campaign.

The deputy commissioner issued clear instructions and said that access to every child should be ensured during the anti-polio campaign, and no child should be deprived of taking polio drops.

He directed that all teams should perform their duties punctually, and the presence and performance reports of monitoring officers in the field should be checked on a daily basis.

The deputy commissioner said that in case of negligence or any misconduct will strict departmental action will be taken against the responsible officers and officials.

It was decided in the meeting that, along with the door-to-door campaign, special polio teams will be deployed at public places so that vaccination of children can be made possible even during travel.

For this purpose, special teams will administer polio drops to children at bus stands, railway stations, transit points, passenger shelters and other public places, especially children from travelling families, on a priority basis.

Mr Cheema said that complete eradication of polio is a national duty and to achieve this goal, all institutions will have to ensure measures with mutual cooperation, coordinated strategy and continuous monitoring.

The district administration and the health department have strongly appealed to parents and guardians to administer polio drops to their children under the age of five during the anti-polio campaign and cooperate with the polio teams.

Deputy Commissioner Rawalpindi has directed the concerned departments to ensure 100 per cent coverage during the campaign, and no child should be deprived of polio drops, saying that “drops are the guarantee of a healthy future”.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2026