Polio vaccination drive kicks off in Quetta amid tight security

Published January 5, 2015
A polio worker gives vaccine to a young girl. — AFP/File
A polio worker gives vaccine to a young girl. — AFP/File

QUETTA: A seven-day polio vaccination campaign was launched amid tight security in Quetta after a gap of more than five weeks during which children below the age of five would be administered polio drops.

District Health Officer Quetta Dr. Sher Ahmed Satakzai told Dawn that the vaccine will be administered to 700,000 children in Quetta.

The provincial government of Balochistan has declared an emergency in Quetta and other high-risk districts of the province to eradicate the paralysing disease.

Teams comprising health department officials and volunteers were formed to make sure polio drops were administered to children below the age of five years in all parts of Quetta.

Read: Battle against polio

Initially, Quetta was divided in different zones to make the campaign a success.

Pakistan's first case of polio virus for the year 2015 was reported from Balochistan's Chagai district on Jan 1.

An eighteen-month-old child fell prey to the crippling disease in Chagai's Barabcha area near the Pak-Afghan border.

During the year 2014, a total of 23 polio cases were reported from Balochistan. Most of the cases were reported from Balochistan's Killa Abdullah, Pishin and Quetta districts.

Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world where polio remains endemic, the other two countries being Afghanistan and Nigeria, but efforts to stamp it out have been badly hit in recent years by attacks on immunisation teams.

Also read: The polio pariahs

The World Health Organisation (WHO) had declared that Pakistan is responsible for nearly 80 per cent of polio cases reported globally.

Also read: Pakistan on crutches

To prevent the possible spread of the polio virus from Pakistan to other countries, the WHO imposed strict travel restrictions on the country.

Militant groups often attack polio teams as they see vaccination campaigns as a cover for espionage. There are also long running rumours about polio drops causing infertility.

Anti-polio campaigns in Balochistan were suspended and rumours of WHO ending operations had emerged after deadly attack on vaccinators in Quetta in November last year which had claimed the lives of four workers.

Later in December, the Balochistan government had suspended its anti-polio campaign in the province in the aftermath of attacks on polio workers in Karachi and Peshawar.

Opinion

Editorial

A hasty retreat
Updated 28 Nov, 2024

A hasty retreat

Govt should not extend its campaign of violence against PTI and its leaders, thinking it now has the upper hand. Enough is enough.
Lebanon truce
28 Nov, 2024

Lebanon truce

WILL it hold? That is the question many in the Middle East and beyond will be asking after a 60-day ceasefire ...
MDR anomaly removed
28 Nov, 2024

MDR anomaly removed

THE State Bank’s decision to remove its minimum deposit rate requirement for conventional banks on deposits from...
Islamabad march
Updated 27 Nov, 2024

Islamabad march

WITH emotions running high, chaos closes in. As these words were being written, rumours and speculation were all...
Policing the internet
27 Nov, 2024

Policing the internet

IT is chilling to witness how Pakistan — a nation that embraced the freedoms of modern democracy, and the tech ...
Correcting sports priorities
27 Nov, 2024

Correcting sports priorities

IT has been a lingering battle that has cast a shadow over sports in Pakistan: who are the national sports...