Two new polio cases have been reported in Punjab on Tuesday, taking the number of affected children affected by the virus to eight in the province during the current year so far.
According to health authorities, the new cases include an eight-month-old boy of Dera Ghazi Khan and a 13-month-old boy of Bahawalpur. It is suspected that these children were missed vaccination during the last immunization campaign. The Punjab Health Department has announced stern action against polio vaccinator found guilty of negligence in the vaccination.
The Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department said that if a case emerges from a district in the future, polio teams of that area will be penalised. Those leading the campaigns in DG Khan, Hafizabad and Chiniot have been given a final warning by the health department.
The secretary also added that parents of 16,000 children had refused anti-polio vaccine. Pakistan has now reported a total of 67 wild polio cases this year. The highest number of cases have been reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which has recorded 22 cases, while Sindh reported 21 cases, Balochistan 16 and AJK, GB and Islamabad zero.
