RAWALPINDI:As many as 197,000 children werevaccinated against polio on the second day of the anti-polio campaign in the district while a new list of refusals has been prepared.

This information was informed in a meeting on Tuesday at the deputy commissioner’s office.

The meeting was attended by senior officials of the District Health Authority and police.

The health officials said the five-daypoliocampaign, which began on September 4, was aimed at providing anti-poliodrops to 800,000 children under the age of five.

On the firstdayof the campaign, they said more than 197,000 children werevaccinated.

The health officials said implementation of government-issued standard operating procedures (SOPs) should be ensured with the implementation of zero tolerance policy with regard to refusal cases during the campaign.

They said anti-polioteams should ensure door-to-door marking and finger marking process and prepare accurate data,

adding that accuracy would be achieved when the anti-polioteams would work with dedication and for the larger interest of the nation.

They said children were the future of the nation and district administration would not leave any stone unturned to save them from the crippling disease.

The officials said monitoring of anti-polioteams had been launched and their work would be monitored on a daily basis, adding that poliovirus had been eliminated in other parts of the world.

The govenrment was committed to eliminating the virus from Pakistan as well.

The campaign, titled outbreak response (OBR), was launched in Rawalpindi and Lahore districts of the province.

Only 29 union councils of Lahore and four tehsils of Rawalpindi were part of the campaign which would continue for seven days.

The last two days will be dedicated to reaching out to ‘not available’ children.

In July and August, Pakistan’s national laboratory confirmed presence of poliovirus in environmental samples of Lahore and Rawalpindi.

The viruses were found to be genetically linked to the cluster in Afghanistan.

As per the SOPS, three responses need to be conducted to block the spread of poliovirus in the the wake of positive environmental samples.

This is the second response in Rawalpindi and first in Lahore after detection of poliovirus.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2023