ISLAMABAD: As the week-long campaign against polio concluded on Sunday, the data of first six days showed that 97 per cent target of vaccination has been achieved. The data from the last day will be compiled on Monday.

The campaign was launched by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sept 9 in 115 districts of the country to vaccinate 30 million children under the age of five.

Some 286,000 polio workers went door-to-door to administer polio drops to children.

Prime Minister’s Coordinator for Health Dr Malik Mukhtar Bharath said that as of September 14, as many as 97pc of the children have been vaccinated in 115 districts, adding that the catch-up activities have also commenced and they are meant to ensure that no child is be left unvaccinated.

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In a statement, he appreciated efforts of polio teams on who delivered the vaccines house-to-house despite many challenges.

He directed the national polio programme team to review the post-campaign results and prepare detailed plans to plug the identified gaps ahead of the next campaign in October.

Muhammad Anwarul Haq, the coordinator of the National Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication, said that the campaign faced challenges in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that needed to be addressed, while the drive in Balochistan progressed well.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2024