The Sindh government has decided to recruit more vaccinators to increase immunization coverage to 100% in the province. This decision was taken in a meeting chaired by the Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah and was attended by the representatives of the Health Department, WHO and UNICEF on Wednesday at Sindh Secretariat. It was informed in the briefing by the authorities of Sindh Health Department and PD EPI that at present children are being vaccinated in 30 districts of the province. Along with the polio campaign, children from birth to 23 months are vaccinated against measles, hepatitis and other diseases. It was also informed in the meeting that at present there are 1518 EPI centers in government and 235 private hospitals where children are being vaccinated free of cost. It was further informed in the meeting that 3.5 million children from birth to 23 months are being vaccinated by the 17 thousand LHWs and 3,918 vaccinators throughout the province. Despite the coronavirus the immunization coverage has improved, a helpline 1166 has also been set up. In the meeting, the Chief Secretary Sindh Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah directed the health department to increase the coverage of immunizations to 100%. “All children of the province should be vaccinated” said CS Sindh. He said that 3723 more vaccinators would be recruited to increase the coverage of immunizations to 100% for this CS asked Sindh Health Department to move a summary. It was also decided in the meeting that immunizations would soon be given in the primary and tertiary hospitals of the province 24 hours a day and the salaries of the vaccinators of the province would be equal to those of vaccinators of other provinces.
