PESHAWAR, March 25: The health department is launching a three-day emergency anti-polio vaccination campaign in Jalozai camp and nearby villages to immunise the internally displaced children from highly-endemic Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency, according to officials.

“The emergency vaccination drive, to get underway from Monday, has been planned in the wake of red alert issued by the World Health Organisation last week to prevent transmission of the virus to Peshawar and other surrounding areas,” they said.

Normally children below five years are administered anti-polio drops but during the emergency campaign vaccine will be administered to people up to 15 years of age in line with the protocol followed during the international health emergency to do away with the risk of any child serving as a carrier for the spread of the crippling poliovirus.

Officials said that the decision to enhance the age limit of target children had worked in Somalia, Chad and Mali where similar step was taken to contain reemergence of poliovirus after those countries were declared polio-free.

The government decided to hold an emergency meeting following a letter from WHO to provincial chief secretary, requesting him to make a plan for the children taking refuge in Jalozai camp owing to military operation in Khyber Agency.

“We are also setting up emergency transit polio checkposts on all routes leading to Bara in response to WHO's fears that polio situation is getting out of control in Peshawar in particular and the province in general owing to shifting of people from Bara to Jalozai camp,” officials added.

They said that the campaign in Jalozai for Bara IDPs had also been suggested to the chief secretary by members of Technical Advisory Group of global polio initiative in a meeting held last month.

“We have recorded 38 polio cases in Bara since 2010. It is a matter of grave concern as it poses serious threat to the worldwide polio eradication efforts,” officials said.

They said that confirmation of so many cases from a single area meant that there were 7,600 silent infections and spread of poliovirus could only be checked if all people got immunised, regardless of their age.

An estimated 15,000 families have reached Jalozai camp from Bara of which 6,000 have been staying temporarily in the nearby Dag Ismail Khel and Dag Mehsud villages owing to accommodation and registration problems in the camp.

“In order to contain it, we have planned to besiege the virus in Jalozai and nearby villages by vaccinating all the people there,” officials said.

The emergency response has been divided into three stages. In the first stage beginning from Monday, children residing in the camp and nearby districts will be immunised followed by another campaign after a week that will also have measles and vitamin A drops supplementation.

The last stage, to be commenced during the second week of April, will focus only on the poliovirus by administering the vaccine.

A total of 25,000 persons will be targeted with the oral polio vaccine through 70 polio teams whereas 7,000 off-camp children will be targeted through 33 polio teams.