PESHAWAR, Dec 21: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain on Friday said the fight against polio in the province would continue despite attacks on vaccinators and that the government would ensure community involvement for the successful immunisation campaigns in future.

“We’ll be needing community support for successful vaccination of targeted children,” the minister told Dawn here at Civil Offices Mess.

Mr Hussain said tight security checks would be put in place for the next phase of immunisation campaign in the province.

He, however, didn’t reveal when the phase will get underway.

The minister said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had 17,000 vaccination teams comprising 34,000 workers and it was not possible for the government to provide security to such a big number of people.

He, however, said the government would ensure by all means that the vaccination staff detailed in high-risk areas was provided with proper security through police and community.

At least five polio vaccinators were killed in different parts of the province during an immunisation campaign between Dec 17 and Dec 20.

Mr Hussain said the killing of polio workers in Peshawar, Charsadda and Nowshera had forced the government to make a strategy for future vaccination drives.

“We’ll involve the community for polio vaccination. Children will be vaccinates against polio at community centres, mosques and hujras,” he said.

The minister said local elders would be encouraged to play active role in the success of immunisation campaigns.

He denied polio vaccination was a conspiracy of the West to render Muslim children impotent and said 85 per cent of the funding for polio eradication was provided by Islamic Development Bank through the federal government, while the rest came from other sources.

“If some people suspect that anti-polio drops are made by the Westerners, then why do they use other medicines made by them? I wonder why the people suspect those, who are trying to prevent their children from a crippling disease,” he said.