Five-day anti-polio vaccination drive launched in KP

News Desk

DI KHAN/ TANK: A five-day anti-polio vaccination campaign was kicked off on Monday to administer polio vaccine to about 450,972 children aged up to five years in DI Khan and Tank districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, health sources said.

According to the health sources, in Tank as many as 86,550 children aged up to five years will be administered anti-polio drops in 22 union councils of the district.

For this purpose, at least 656 teams, including 585 mobile, 36 fixed, 28 transit and seven roaming teams, have been engaged to give polio drops to children at houses or other places, including bus terminals, exit and entry points and markets.

It is pertinent to mention here that elaborate arrangements had been made with the help of the police department to conduct the drive in a peaceful manner and protect the children from the crippling disease.

On the occasion, Tank Deputy Commissioner Hameedullah Khattak has urged parents to cooperate with administration and polio teams during the polio campaign and ensure that their children are vaccinated against poliovirus.

Similarly, 364,422 children aged up to five years would be administered anti-polio drops during the five days polio campaign in DI Khan district.

According to the district health sources, 2,403 teams have been engaged to administer anti-polio drops to children in the district.

In this elaborate arrangements had been made with the help of the police department to conduct the drive in a peaceful manner and protect the children from the crippling disease.

The official said that 1,675 refusal cases were reported during the last anti-polio drive and the authorities had made a plan to cover the refusal cases.

The polio teams, during the campaign, would visit the refusal cases to convince and motivate the parents to get their children administered against the crippling disease, he added.

District Health Officer (DHO) Mahmood Jan urged the parents to cooperate with the administration and polio teams during the polio campaign and ensure that their children were vaccinated against polio so that they could be saved from life-long disability.