QUETTA: A five-day special anti-polio campaign was launched in Balochistan on Monday amid tight security.

During the campaign, 1.785 million children below the age of five years will be vaccinated in 19 out of 34 districts, including five high-risk districts bordering Afghanistan.

Hundreds of security personnel from Frontier Corps, police and Levies Force have been deputed to protect 6,820 polio teams.

“We are providing foolproof security to polio teams who are involved in the anti-polio campaign in the province,” Syed Zahid Shah, Coordinator of Balochistan Emergency Operation Centre, said.

He said polio workers had played a significant role in bringing Balochistan close to a polio-free province and they had rendered great sacrifices for it.

Mr Shah said that though no polio case had been reported from any area of Balochistan over the last 18 months, the campaign aimed to ensure that every child in the province was administered anti-polio drops.

“We are continuing our journey towards a polio-free province,” Mr Shah said.

The presence of poliovirus in Afghanistan was a huge challenge for those areas of Balochistan which had borders with county, Mr Shah added.

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2022