Polio workers go door to door to vaccinate children against polio.

LAHORE -- In order to prevent polio virus reinfection, Punjab on Monday rolled out first national immunization drive against polio of the new year. Punjab aims to reach out and vaccinate more than 20.54 million children in the five-day drive which will go on till January 22 in mega districts like Lahore, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi.

While in rest of Punjab the drive will last five days. In order to check performance of districts in implementation of the campaign head of the polio programe and Punjab Emergency Operations Centre Coordinator Khizer Afzaal Chaudhary paid surprise whirlwind visits to Faisalabad, Khushab and Sargodha. During the monitoring mission, the EOC head visited hospitals, nomadic as well as priority community settlements and transit points.

Talking to polio teams and officials, the EOC head emphasized on improving quality of campaign and called for leaving no child behind without vaccine. Head of the polio programme expressed his satisfaction that for two years Punjab was polio free but cautioned that the success against virus could be short-lived. He underlined that in order to save children from paralysis multiple dozes of polio vaccine were required.

So vaccination of all children in every campaign was mandatory, Mr Khizer stressed. The EOC head met with polio teams in Allied Hospital Faisalabad and administered polio drops. He inquired polio teams about their challenges and pledged to provide every support.

During his visit to the transit, nomadic as well as priority community settlements, the EOC head stressed on ensuring judicious use of polio vaccines. He emphasized to on the teams to avoid vaccine wastage. Mr Khizer reiterated his direction to polio teams to improve data quality on missed children.

He inquired polio teams deployed at a toll plaza on Motorway about provision of security. Upon finding that security was not available, he directed the district health authority to provide the same at earliest. Although Punjab is free of polio case since October 2020, but recent sewage sample results from Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur and Sialkot have been of concern. The reemergence of the virus in sewage samples must send an urgent message to parents to ensure that children are administered two polio drops under every immunization drive.

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