PESHWAR, Nov 25: An official of the Expanded Programme for Immunisation (EPI) has said that during the polio vaccination campaign in the NWFP 267,269 children could not be immunised in parts of the province.

“We have recorded 9,858 refusals while 257,411 children were inaccessible,” said Dr Mustafa Alam, acting deputy director EPI, while highlighting the progress made on the first day of the campaign during a briefing here on Tuesday.

He said that out of 1,682,182 target children, 1,402,032 had been covered. He said that in Swat district 377,075, in Bajaur 109,650, in Shabqadar 58,764, in Kurram Agency 81,769, in Mohmand Agency 70,969 and in FR Kohat 16,302 children of below five year of age were inaccessible.

The official said that vaccination of 9,576 target population of children in Mansehra district was not possible due snowy weather.

Earlier, NWFP Health Minister Syed Zahir Ali Shah appealed to parents to help with the polio teams in administering anti-polio drops to their children of below the age of five years to protect them from permanent disability and ensure health of the young generation.

He expressed these views while inspecting vaccination activities during anti-polio drive at the Federal Colony, Hassan Ghari, in Peshawar. Health department and WHO officials accompanied the minister on the occasion.

The minister besides inspecting a centre at the Federal Hospital also witnessed vaccination activities in the area. He administered anti-polio drops to children on the occasion.

Responding to quarries of the media about the increasing number of polio cases in the province, the minister said that worsening law and order situation and misconceptions about polio vaccine were the basic reasons of polio virus circulation in the area.

He said that administration of anti-polio drops to each and every child was focused during the current drive. He informed that arrangements had already made at the IDPs camps to vaccinate displaced children. —Bureau Report

The health minister asked parents to cooperate in making the drive successful to wipe out the threatening disease from the province.

WHO team leader Dr Abdul Jabbar, while briefing the minister about the vaccine, informed that trivalent drops were being used in the current drive. “The vaccine provides protection against P1, P2, P3 viruses of polio,” he remarked.