A small-scale polio campaign will begin in Karachi from July 20. This will be the first campaign to take place after immunisation drives were suspended in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. The campaign will be carried out in high-risk areas of the city: Baldia, Orangi, North Nazimabad, Liaqatabad and SITE towns. Around 260,000 children under five years will receive the oral polio vaccine (OPV), Sindh’s Emergency Operation Centre for Polio confirmed on Tuesday. Following the Karachi campaign, there will be monthly campaigns in Sindh until the end of the year. “These campaigns are of the utmost importance as we must give children the oral polio vaccine to save them from polio and to ensure a healthy future for them,” the Sindh EOC spokesperson said. Pakistan has so far reported a total of 59 polio cases out of which 20 cases are from Sindh. The spokesperson added: We have been set back by the COVID pandemic when global polio campaigns were halted in March and it is absolutely necessary now that these vaccines are provided to fill the immunity gap in children. Routine childhood immunisation was also affected, leaving children more vulnerable to the virus than before.
