The ongoing seven-day anti-polio campaign continued on the sixth day on Sunday, wherein an important meeting was held regarding anti-polio under Deputy Commissioner Peshawar Afaq Wazir in the chair. In the meeting, there was a detailed discussion regarding the performance and coverage of the ongoing anti-polio campaign. Deputy Commissioner Peshawar Afaq Wazir has appealed to parents to give their children the polio vaccine to protect them from permanent disability. He also requested that the parents cooperate with anti-polio teams to eliminate the polio virus in Peshawar.
“We will not have to play our role to eradicate polio, and eradication of polio will be possible only with our joint efforts,” Afaq Wazir said. While visiting health centers, Deputy Commissioner Afaq Wazir checked the staff attendance and reviewed the anti-polio campaign. It was worth mentioned her that Pakistan launched its second nationwide anti-polio campaign of the year in an effort to inoculate 44 million children under the age of 5 amid signs the country was close to eradicating the disease.
Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul-Haq-Kakar launched the five-day vaccination campaign in the capital, Islamabad, and urged parents in a televised address to cooperate with the 350,000 health workers who are going door-to-door to administer vaccine drops to children. The campaign was taking place under heavy security. The government deployed police and security forces to ensure the safety of the inoculation drive workers.
Vaccine providers and the police assigned to protect them have been attacked during past anti-polio campaigns, which militants falsely claimed were a Western conspiracy to sterilize children. Pakistan has registered two new polio cases since January, a blow to the goal of eradicating a disease that affects the nervous system.
