Polio vaccination drive to start from today in Karachi

Polio vaccination drive will take place in Karachi from today Feb 10 till 16th of this month.

According to details, The drive will be conducted in all six districts of Karachi and will target children less than five years of age.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the country, a five-day polio vaccination campaign, aiming to inoculate approximately 40 million children will begin on Feb 17 and will go on till Feb 21.

Reports said Dates for the campaign in Karachi moved up in light of the Pakistan Super League matches scheduled to take place in Karachi.

The Polio official said approximately 265,000 polio workers participate in the nationwide campaign, going door-to-door to inoculate children under the age of five.

According to the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme website, 144 cases of wild polio virus (WPV) reported in Pakistan in 2019. In comparison, only 12 and eight cases had emerged in 2018 and 2017, respectively.

Meanwhile, seven cases of WPV reported across the country so far in 2020.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the last remaining countries that have been unable to eradicate polio.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), a lack of infrastructure, remote locations, population movement, conflict and insecurity, and resistance to vaccination are some of the reasons why polio is still endemic in the two countries .

Pakistan under a polio-linked travel restriction imposed by the WHO due to which, since 2014, every person travelling abroad has to carry a vaccination certificate.

Polio is a disease that affects the nervous system, causing paralysis and even death.